Catch 22
by Schizoninjas
Summary: A story about love, hatred, betrayal, duty, and the ties that bind us, whether we like it or not... and giant robots.  ReeverKomui and CrossKomui, slight AU.
1. If you give a Komui a cookie

_Catch-22_

Welcome to another collaborative effort by the Schizoninjas. Sadly our last one petered out before we could finish it properly, but we've already written this story in its entirety, so rest assured, you will see the end eventually. In about… 228,000 words from now. 8D;

Just a word of **warning**: Here in the beginning it's a pretty silly and fluffy fic, but as the plot thickens, things are going to get dark and twisted later on with some serious dubcon/noncon and D/s vibes and the occasional little splash of gore. If that sort of stuff's not your cup of tea, you may wish to turn back now. (This chapter's safe though!) Also, this story is not very accurate at all to its supposed early-1890s setting, but D.Gray-man canon itself is not terribly faithful to the time period (hello giant mecha?) so to be perfectly honest, we weren't trying that hard, lol. We'll just steal a page out of Hoshino-sensei's book and tell you that this is a "slightly fantastical" version of the late 19th century.

Before we begin, your authors would also like to give a shout-out to trixie chick, whose fabulous CrossKomui stories inspired a significant part of our plot. If you've read her fics, we're pretty sure you'll be able to tell which part.

So without further ado -- hope you enjoy!

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Some Chinese words you'll want to know:  
Ge ge (roughly, "guh guh")- big brother  
Zhi ma qiu (roughly, "zhee mah choo")- sesame balls  
Mantou (roughly, "mahn toh")- steamed bun

Our story picks up shortly after Allen Walker visits the Black Order for the very first time… 

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_Ch. 1. If you give a Komui a cookie..._

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"Hmmmmmm."

Komui Li was a very busy man. Yes, very, very busy indeed. And he was currently busy with... keeping himself busy. Which was to say he was bent over an experiment table in one of the fifth floor laboratories of the Black Order Headquarters building, earnestly poking a tattered piece of paper with various chemicals and muttering to himself. Occasionally he even remembered to take notes.

"Yes... and from that we... ...no, that can't be... wait--- ... no..."

He stopped and scratched his head for a moment, jostling the ever-present white beret, and frowned in deepest thought as he turned to pore over his writings.

"...no, that species of flower definitely doesn't... but wait, the pollen was... ...Acapulco?"

He grabbed one of the quill pens lying on the opposite side of the desk, dipped it in the inkwell, and hurriedly scribbled a note at the bottom of one page: _Hibiscus... PERFUME STAIN._

"Must be nice being dead, General Cross," he muttered to himself, pouting unconsciously as he reached for the fingerprint dusting kit. "All those nubile young women in heaven with you."

"You're assuming an awful lot about where General Cross is going, aren't you, Komui?" Reever asked dryly from the doorway of the lab. Or, well, it was what he would have _liked_ to say. Sadly, as things stood, Komui was his superior and had some sort of soft spot or something like that for the General, and Reever had to keep his less-than-stellar opinion about General Cross Marian to himself. He wasn't even sure what it was that turned him off so much. It wasn't as though he really saw or interacted with the man much. In fact, General Cross had been missing in action so long that he had been presumed dead.

...then again, Reever had a feeling he knew exactly what it was about the general that bothered him so much. Anyone who fought with the corpse of another Exorcist was fundamentally creepy in his book.

Anyway. Instead of what he was thinking, he held out the stack of assorted official documents and said the same words he always had to say to Komui, words he said so often he was certain he muttered them in his sleep. Sometimes the phrase slipped out when he was trying to order lunch.

"Supervisor," he sighed, "these papers need your signature."

"Oh, don't they always?" Komui turned around to pout at him after a second's pause, in which he finished applying the fingerprinting dust to the backside of Cross's letter. "Come on, Reever. You and I both know that even were I to sign that stack, there'll be another one just like it tomorrow waiting for me. There are always papers," he repeated himself philosophically with a satisfied nod, before glancing back at his Head Science Officer again, rearranging his features into a pleading expression. "So just give me a few measly minutes to try and figure out where exactly General Cross sent this letter from?" (He had already been in the lab for about three and a half hours.) "Not that I expect anybody to actually be able to find him even_ with _this information," the young man added with a long-suffering sigh, "but we have to start somewhere."

"Why don't you just ask Allen?" Reever asked wearily, already fairly certain of the answer and it had to do with the fact that asking Allen would save too much time that otherwise might be wasted on real work.

"Suppose he's probably already gone anyway," Reever shrugged as he set down the papers off to the side, knowing they probably wouldn't get signed today unless he did it himself. Komui was in one of his moods again, but at least this was one of the slightly strange and baffling moods rather than one of the somewhat eccentrically creative and potentially destructive moods. He paused a moment before he closed the door behind them, leaning back against it with his arms folded over his chest.

"Komui," he began, eyes narrowing slightly, "is something up today? It's not like you to run off and actually do something productive, even if it's not actually anything to do with your job."

That was the entire problem with Komui, really. Reever was always trying to get him to do his work but God forbid he ever actually do any, because the change in behavior always unfailingly made Reever worry. There was just no winning.

Komui blinked over at the other man, looking a little surprised -- at the unusual mode of address if nothing else. Komui didn't really mind what anyone called him, but it was rare to hear anything save 'Supervisor' off Reever's lips during working hours.

"Well," he replied with a frown, "I _would_ like to find the General and give him a piece of my mind." He didn't bother to dispute the charge of actual usefulness being unlike him. "He's got one of the most important jobs in the Order, and for all we know he's sitting on a beach in the Mediterranean drinking fruity cocktails and inviting girls in bathing suits to climb all over him. No, actually I am _entirely sure _that that's _exactly _what he's doing," he amended himself tersely with a slight twitch of one eye. Komui did tend to get a little bit worked-up where Cross Marian was concerned.

Reever found that he actually had to physically bite down on his tongue to prevent some variation of the-pot-calling-the-kettle-black from coming out of his mouth. Instead, he shrugged, pressing his hand to the side of his head to try to persuade his head not to ache.

"But the General's always been like that. Even the higher-ups gave up trying to keep him in line. Shouldn't you be focusing more on other things?" Reever asked with as much respect for his superior as he could manage, but Komui was... Komui. He was reliable enough. He always came through in the end and there was no denying that he was extremely brilliant. It was just... sometimes he needed a little hard shove in the right direction.

"Well, if no one ever even _tries_ to bother him about it at all, he'll probably just forget about the idea of coming back to base entirely." Komui was pouting a bit now. "At least we can keep the thought in his head? Like, oh, I better head back to HQ eventually, that rascal Komui probably has new orders for me piling up in his desk drawer, I should relieve the poor man of some of his enormous burden?" He stopped for a second, blinking. "Er, except, you know. In a way he would actually realistically say. ... Think."

...because reminding Komui of his duties had worked out _so_ well for his research team. Reever was beginning to get the feeling he would need to beg Buzz for some of his 'in-case-of-Kanda' migraine medication before the day was out.

"That's very noble of you, Supervisor," Reever finally managed, once he had fought off the urge to reach out and shake Komui. (He'd seen Linali try it. It didn't work.) "How about we get Johnny right on that so you can start signing some papers?"

"But-- but..." Komui seemed to sense that his subordinate officer was nearing the end of his patience; he glanced unhappily between Reever and the letter still sitting, covered in fingerprint dust, atop the exam table. "I already started the job... I'm almost done here, honestly. Can't I at least finish up?"

He glanced at Reever again, evaluated the expression on the man's face for a moment, and held up a finger. "Fifteen minutes. That's all I ask. You can stand here and time me if you want."

Reever blinked. It had been a long time (things concerning the Supervisor's sister notwithstanding) since he'd seen Komui actually care about a project enough to want to see it through to the end. He gave Komui a skeptical, searching look before he finally sighed in defeat and nodded, pointedly looking down at his watch.

"Fourteen minutes and fifty-five seconds, Supervisor."

Then he leaned back and contented himself with watching the Supervisor work, mentally making notes for the mystery of what really went on in Komui's head which he'd been slowly trying to solve for the past seven years. And, well, Reever couldn't deny that there was something very attractive about the sight of Komui working.

...though whether it was in an aesthetical, Komui-was-a-handsome-man sort of way or in an 'oh, look, it's an eclipse that won't happen for another two hundred years' sort of way was anyone's guess.

Komui, for his part, obliviously frowned and poked at the paper and wrote more notes for the next fourteen minutes and fifty-five seconds, and when at last he heard Reever pointedly tapping on his watch from behind, closed his notebook with a sigh and set down the pen.

"All right," he acquiesced, though he was still pouting again as he folded up the letter and packed it and the accompanying envelope away in protective parchment wrapping. "Well, it's a start, at least. So where are those papers...?" he said as he headed toward the door, looking profoundly unhappy. It wasn't nice to dodge Reever _all_ the time; the other man was just doing his job too, and was generally quite gracious about it -- but damn if Komui didn't hate being cooped up at a desk filling out forms all day long. He was a scientist, not a paperpusher. There was a reason he'd never considered taking the bureaucratic exam back home. (Well, that and the fact that it was entirely possible that by the time he managed to pass the exam, the government he'd've been trying to get into would be completely overthrown. There _were_ a few bright sides here and there to being away from China.)

But... it really would just be nice if they could somehow get General Cross to visit home. Just. Once in a while.

Cross, meanwhile, was actually seriously considering visiting China. There was that pretty girl who ran the brothel he'd gotten better acquainted with the last time he was there. That was the charm about the Chinese, really. He never had to miss the lovely boy he'd left back at Headquarters enough to run the risk of actually feeling the urge to return. They all looked enough alike to him. There was really no substitute for Komui's voice, sadly, but... it was Headquarters. Funny how addressing a letter to a relationship he was convinced he'd taken out with the trash three years ago changed things.

Ah, well. China it was.

Back at Headquarters, Reever had already picked up the stack of papers again, holding them out in the general direction of Komui without actually offering them to him.

"I'll walk you back to your office, Supervisor," he offered, because Komui wasn't allowed to carry papers. Last time Komui had been given his own papers, they'd all ended up over the rail and somewhere down in Hevlaska's chamber, which had left the Guardian very cross. He glanced over a moment at the unhappy expression Komui was wearing and felt his impatience and resolve weaken. He knew better than anyone else on their team that it was pretty hard to be the Supervisor. He knew the job broke people. In fact, he was pretty sure the job had already gotten to Komui, only in an extremely innovative way. Leave it to the Supervisor to develop new and interesting ways to lose his mind.

...it was one of Komui's selling points, really.

"...you want anything from the cafeteria, Supervisor? I can grab us a snack or something and bring some of my reports to your office, keep you company."

"Oh -- um -- some fresh coffee would be great? And maybe a cookie? You don't mind?" Komui beamed back at the other man, somewhat heartened that at least he wouldn't have to spend the whole night holed up all alone with just himself and his paperwork. Though, if Reever was in the room, he'd have to actually _do_ things, or at least make it look like he was writing... hm. He weighed his options mentally for a moment. Hmmmm...

...no, company still won out. And with Reever present, he could legitimately strike up polite conversation, and they could get happily caught up in it and he could stop pushing papers for a while. After all, Reever would be a guest in his office; it would be just rude to sit there and ignore him and do nothing but sign stuffy paperwork.

"The coffee won't be as good as Linali's, but I'll do my best," Reever offered with a smile, escorting Komui the rest of the way to his office. He set the stack of papers on a semi-slightly more clean than the rest section of the Supervisor's desk before he excused himself to the cafeteria, praying to God that Komui would still be there when he got back. He really needed a break from tracking Komui down today.

He came back as quickly as he could with a tray holding a pot of coffee, a pitcher of cola, and a plate of assorted cookies. He'd begged Jerry to rush the order because the fate of the quality of the remainder of his day desperately depended upon it.

"Supervisor? I'm coming in," he called with a short knock on the door, letting himself in as promised. He should have known better than to expect to see Komui actually doing any work. It was old news by now. It really was. Still, Reever hoped. Every single time, he hoped and prayed and he really should have added the sun rising from the west to the list of things he was waiting to see happen.

The Supervisor was sitting there, balancing a fountain pen sideways on his finger.

"I brought you some really delicious cookies from Jerry. They're still warm and soft and they just _melt_ in your mouth," Reever called out rather than make any comment on the lack of work being done.

"And you know what, Supervisor Komui? I just might be persuaded to share one with you for each fifty papers you sign."

This earned Reever what was very possibly the Pout of the Century. The fountain pen fell from Komui's finger to clatter noisily against some mission reports laying underneath his arm.

"Can I at least have a cup of coffee before I start?" he requested, looking, if not properly chastised, at least as though he had obtained a modicum of respect for the true depths of Reever's evil.

Offering Komui what was probably the happiest smile ever to be seen on Reever's face in at least months, the scientist nodded amiably and poured half a cup of coffee into Komui's special mug. Then he sat back in his own chair, taking the tray with him; balanced the tray on one knee and a clipboard on the other; and began to write out lab reports as he slowly and deliberately savored one cookie after another. He went as far as making quiet, vaguely sexual sounds of pleasure between bites, licking his lips now and again.

Really, if the Noah family thought they were evil, they needed to take a long, hard look at who they were facing.

It was close to an hour later before Komui laid down his pen -- well, more like flung it down, with a very long-suffering sigh. One hand wrapped around his coffee mug automatically before he glanced down into its depths and noted with a mournful expression that they were empty. Really, half a cup of coffee wasn't very much fuel for fifty pages worth of forms and reports.

He didn't bother asking for permission as he rose from his chair; walking over to where Reever was seated, he picked up the coffee pot to take back to his desk and swiped a single chocolate-chip cookie.

He hadn't even gotten around to making any conversation in all this time... what a waste of an hour.

Reever had been scratching his stubble, frowning down at his lab reports, when Komui finally finished. When a hand appeared and kidnapped the coffee pot and cookie, Reever had had to quickly grab the now off-balance tray before it all topped over. He set it down on the floor, atop a pile of papers, watching after Komui with something not far from awe. He'd... actually sat down and got right to his work. They had _made progress_ today. It was almost worth throwing a party over. Hard as it was, Reever did his best to contain his surprise. Aside from gaping a little bit and letting his straw fall out of his mouth, he was pretty successful in that respect.

"Uh, hey, Supervisor?" he began after a moment's pause, not knowing really what to do with the silence he'd started by withholding cookies from Komui. And so he erred on the side of the deeply ingrained work ethic that'd been pounded into him over the many trying years of working under Komui. Talk about work. That was Reever's response and solution for everything.

"Do you remember the C-16 lab we did? I know I was there -- I clocked in -- but... I can't really remember what happened." It happened, sometimes. Once you were on your fourth day without sleep, running on energy drinks and candy, sometimes blocks of time would simply fail to register.

"Umm..." Komui paused in thought, setting down the coffeepot atop his desk, and absently chewed on a pinky nail. "C-16... ...Reactive time and distance properties of dormant-stage Innocence?"

"Oh, yeah!" Reever nodded as he vaguely remembered such a thing and jotted it down before he looked back up at Komui again. "You wouldn't happen to remember the results of that lab, would you? I could probably get it off Johnny..." It really wasn't that important to have, since everyone involved in the lab had to fill out their own reports, and missing one here or there wouldn't make or break the research, but Reever had gotten into the habit of being their team's rock, as exhausting an undertaking as it was. It made him sleep better at night to know that the rest of their team could sleep better at night, knowing at least Reever would have a handle on things even if they all fell apart. He wasn't their head officer for his charming good looks, after all. And so he continued to frown at the report, trying to remember what he'd done that day but all he could remember for some odd reason was a vague feeling of worry. Like something had been wrong that day and he'd wanted to be anywhere but that lab, but he'd been too tired to do anything and he _hated_ that conflicted feeling and--

"Um, I don't think I have any notes for it," Komui said, plopping back into his chair with a sheepish, uncomfortable little smile. "Sorry, I was a little mixed up that day."

He turned to refill his coffee cup without saying anything further.

"Of course not," Reever sighed, slapping himself on the forehead. "you weren't even there. Sorry, Supervisor." Then he started desperately searching his brain for a change of subject, because he knew Komui's euphemisms for everything too well. With Komui, 'mixed up' didn't mean 'mixed up'. Every day was mixed up in some way or another for Komui. With Komui, 'mixed up' meant the grim, harsh reality with a side of overactive imagination had caught up to the Supervisor, meant he had probably spent the day thinking about all the death and the staggering, overwhelming disadvantage they were at and their fallen comrades and their not-quite-dead-but-getting-there friends and how much it fucking _sucked_ to be a science officer and rot safely in the headquarters where the extent of the danger they faced was Kanda having a bad day or Jerry burning dinner while everyone else risked their lives. Everyone had those days. It was why Reever shaved intermittently at best and slept only when he had to. He felt too guilty to live with himself otherwise, given how little progress their research proved even after all this time. And how very often their research did more harm than good.

Reever blinked, realizing he'd gotten lost in thought while trying to come up with a subject change. He coughed quietly.

"...how are the cookies, Supervisor?"

Komui smiled, expression looking somewhere between wry and sympathetic. Raising an eyebrow after a moment, he brought the yet-untouched cookie to his mouth and took an experimental bite.

"...mmm. Heavenly as always," he declared, sinking down in his seat with a blissful expression. He took another couple bites and swallowed before declaring philosophically, "You know, if we could just get the Earl hooked on Jerry's cooking, he could probably single-handedly win us the war."

He finished the cookie in short order, took a sip of his coffee, and glanced over toward Reever with a truly pitiful expression.

"So... you're going to let me have another one, right? Right? You said _cookies_..."

"I'm full, Supervisor," Reever smiled, picking the platter of cookies off the tray. He set them down in front of Komui, giving his superior a little pat on the head. (Well, the hat.) "Please help yourself to the rest and thanks for helping us out today." He wanted to make a joke about what Komui had said, about how not to give the Earl any ideas, because if he stole Jerry the Order would simply starve to death because it was a running joke that Jerry had cooking Innocence, being the only man alive who could cook food to order for their entire little army practically by himself. He wanted to, but for some reason the mention of the Earl and even thinking about him made Reever feel a little sick to his stomach just then.

A little of the feeling seemed to be showing on Reever's face; Komui smiled another sheepish smile at him and looked apologetic. "Um. You're welcome. Thanks for letting me finish earlier... could you tell somebody to have a look at the findings I compiled? I left all my notes with the evidence up in the lab there. Lab seven." He turned to reach for his coffee cup and smiled again, fondly. "Get some sleep tonight, okay?"

"I'll look into it myself," Reever assured, collecting his things as he stood. "Johnny and Tapp have had a rough couple of days." He stopped at the door and turned back to look at Komui, only to catch the supervisor dunking his cookies in his coffee. The sight made Reever smile a little more, shaking his head rather fondly. It was strangely comforting in its own way, Komui's personality. Something about it just made the world seem a little less dark.

...except when Reever needed him to do his work and couldn't find him. That was a little less endearing. But right now...

"I'll send 65 up with another pot of coffee and more cookies, Supervisor. Get some rest too, okay?"

And then he let himself out again, humming nothing in particular as he made his way to lab seven.

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"..._fuck_."

It was all Reever could think to say, staring at the light blue dispatch notice he had come across by chance while searching for the lab sign-up schedule for the week. (Which, like everything else in the world, needed the Supervisor's signature.) Light blue. The color haunted Reever into his dreams, made him shudder a little bit every time he saw it on someone's shirt or on a book cover or even in his own imagination. Luckily Exorcists and Finders and even the Science Department wore primarily blacks and whites. But still. Light blue.

Light blue meant it was a Class-A priority mission. It meant that there was an up to 70 chance that there was, in fact, Innocence to be found. It meant that there was up to a 70 chance that there would be Akuma. It meant that the Finders who found their names on the light blue dispatch notice would almost certainly fail to come home again.

Reever made a point to avoid light blue forms. He'd flipped this one over on accident, trying to get to the lab schedule pinned under it. He'd read the names without meaning to. He'd trained himself to speed read to the point it only took a glance to take in the entire page.

_**Assigned Finders:**__  
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Squad Leader:**__ Poppy Cameron  
Peter Sutton  
Niamh Skinner  
Kelly O'Donnell  
Charlie Mistry  
Jonathan Rice  
_  
The notice was a week old. Without really wanting to, Reever found himself searching for the mission number. He passed Mission Ops now and again, and he usually overheard which teams sent out lost contact with base.

_A-S15G22-100891_

Class-A mission, dispatched to Sector 15, Grid 22. Sent out August 10th.

They lost contact with A1522 almost an entire week ago.

"Fuck," Reever repeated quietly to himself, "Pete... This isn't funny, man. You got a little girl at home. Don't make me live with not being able to tell her where you've gone."

Reever's first impulse was to run to Mission Ops. Beg them for an update. Find out for sure, get some kind of closure. But that... that was a little bit too brave. It was a little bit too real. It wasn't quite enough denial, and the Science Department lived on denial almost as much as they lived on double shots of espresso.

Instead, he found himself curled up behind some orange crates in the back of Jerry's kitchen. The cook found him after a little while, but Jerry had a sixth sense like that.

"What's wrong, darling?" he asked gently, lightly shaking a ladle at him. Reever gave Jerry a tired, blank sort of look and uncurled his hand, showing the cook the crumpled ball of blue paper. It was unlike Reever to shirk his duties, and even more unlike him to do anything that might further compromise the Science Department's already train-wrecked filing system. Wordlessly, Jerry walked away, coming back with a fleece blanket and a mug of hot chocolate.

"The cold is all in your head, honey," he explained as he draped the blanket over Reever's shoulders, "but I find a blanket helps anyway." Then he folded the warm mug in Reever's hands, patting him on the shoulder.

"I'll get Johnny to track Komui-tan down for you today, okay? You just sit tight."

Wearily, Reever nodded gratefully, drawing the blanket tighter around himself as Jerry went back to his cooking. He rested the mug on one knee and rubbed his chin tiredly with his other hand.

He really needed to shave.

Reever might have been sitting there for an hour or two before the far kitchen door banged open to admit what looked like a walking pile of forms and file folders.

"Jeeeeerry-pon!" Komui's familiar sing-song voice echoed through the rather cavernous kitchen. "If you've got a minute, could I have a cup of tea?" (Linali was home, after all, so coffee-making duty currently belonged to her and her alone where Komui was concerned.)

Not waiting for a reply, the slightly precarious-looking pile of papers turned and somehow managed to begin navigating through the chaos of the Order kitchen, inorexably headed toward Reever's little corner.

"S-supervisor!" Reever exclaimed as he spotted a pile of papers wearing a white beret walking toward him. "Y-y-you're dropping the... the..." The scientist set down his hot chocolate as quickly as humanly possible before rushing over to keep the pile from toppling over altogether. He felt terrible enough to be slacking off on the job and now he felt positively _faint_. How many files had Komui lost on the way here? He shouldn't've tried to slack off no matter what. It would take hours to get all of this sorted again, and--

...Komui was carrying around his paperwork. Paper_work_. Komui was _working_, or at least doing his best interpretation of it.

"...are you feeling okay, Supervisor?" he asked immediately, helping some of the papers out of Komui's arms.

"Oh, not too bad," Komui replied cheerfully, setting down the stack of forms he was still holding next to Reever's spot in the corner. "My back is killing me from sitting at my desk all day, though, so I thought I'd take a walk down here and keep you company while I work on this." He beamed at the other man for a moment, until the expression turned into a faint pout. "Linali's busy, so it's not like I have anything better to do..."

Smiling again, he took the remaining papers from Reever's grasp to set them down too, then reached over for the mug of cocoa and placed it in his rather dumbstruck-looking subordinate's hands. Then, without further ceremony, Komui plopped down on the flagstones, white Order coat and all, and began searching his pockets.

"Now where did I put that pen...?" he muttered absently.

"I have one for you, Supervisor," Reever offered quickly, the way one might supply a pen to someone offering to sign a million-dollar check. If the kitchen had any windows, the scientist would have most certainly glanced out to see if the sky was falling. The comment about Linali being busy put Reever a little bit more at ease with the Supervisor's behavior, though. Little constants were all they could really ask for.

"Linali kicked you out of Mission Ops again, didn't she?" Reever inquired lightly with an almost smile, but mentioning Mission Ops alone left him rather strained. Was twenty-six too early to be developing a heart condition?

"Why, certainly not!" Komui exclaimed in a scandalized tone, accepting Reever's pen only to wave it in his face with an astounded expression. "How could she ever think of doing such a thing to her most beloved brother and superior officer?" (Which in Komui-speak meant that she had done exactly that. Possibly with violence.)

"And, anyway, I got what I wanted from them. See?" The Supervisor picked out a paper from near the top of the stack and waved it in Reever's face for just a moment before setting it down on his clipboard. He didn't give Reever enough time to read the contents, but the paper was blue.

"Check... check... and check... and there we are." Komui signed his name at the bottom with a flourish. "See?" he repeated, snapping up the form between thumb and forefinger and dangling it in front of Reever again, beaming as though expecting to be praised for actually doing some work.

_A-S15G22-100891_

_Results: Mission failure. Phenomena appears non-Akuma-related, current hypothesis of ghost and/or undead spirit. Jurisdiction transferred to Roman Catholic Church Main Headquarters Office of Exorcism. See report #A-100891-R542._

_Casualties: No deaths reported._

For once, Reever's reading prowess failed him. He scanned over the report once, frowned, read over it again, and then looked over it one more time, following along the text with his fingers._ No deaths reported._

"Oh, thank God," Reever finally breathed, feeling a little bit as though he had been hit in the chest by a train. "Pete's back then? That's good. Anna's birthday's in a few weeks. He wanted to be back in time to throw her a surprise party." He had to sit down for a minute to absorb the dizzying relief, blinking at his damp eyes. They weren't really watering enough to be considered crying, but they were definitely misting slightly. He planted both hands on his knees and bent forward, drawing in a few deep breaths. It was okay. Cameron's team had come back safely. It was unfair of him to be so relieved that his friends had come back safely from a near death sentence when so many others didn't, but Reever knew he was only human. Pete and Cameron and everyone were his friends, so they could never be just names on a report or statistics. And he was so very, very relieved. He'd needed a reminder that good things still happened in the world so badly.

The initial flood of relief passed and something nagged at the back of Reever's mind. Something about the relief, actually. Hm. What was it? Reever's eyes widened briefly before he furrowed his brow, looking up at his commanding officer.

"...Komui?" he asked a little uncertainly. "Did you get the report from Ops for me...?"

Komui shrugged as he leaned back against the stone wall, hefting another file into his lap. "I was heading down to get it anyway. A week is a long time to go without any contact... I guess the ghost or whatever it was scrambled their telephone equipment. Anyway, I'm supposed to know these things, you know? I _am _Headquarters Supervisor," he declared very importantly, waggling the pen in Reever's direction some more.

"You should finish your cocoa before it gets cold, by the way," he added after a second, smiling with distinct good humor.

For a moment, Reever could only semi-gape at Komui, feeling torn. He really wanted to hug the man just then. Or some less embarrassing, possibly more masculine show of affection. It was just... The Supervisor was a good guy, he really was. Everyone knew that. It was 90 percent of the reason the team put up with Komui so much. But really, that the Supervisor paid enough attention to the details of Reever's life to have known he would be worried for Cameron's team going MIA and to go out of his way to bring the final mission report to him... If Reever didn't miss having a real family so much, he might have found it creepy. As it was, it filled a very basic human need of his that so many of the Order went without. The feeling that someone would miss him were he not to come home at night.

...on a level that didn't involve the rest of the Science Department desperately trying to find someone to file paperwork as well as Reever did in his absence. That depressing thought aside.

"Thanks," he substituted in place of a potentially demasculinizing hug. He pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off before he began collecting all the papers Komui had brought with him.

"Why don't you take Linali out shopping today, Supervisor?" he offered with a small smile. "I can take care of this today. But don't get _too_ used to it, okay? I'm going to wake you up first thing tomorrow morning."

Because while it was true their little research team felt like family sometimes, it was no replacement for the real thing.

"You're sure you don't want me to do those?" Komui raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised. True to his nature, however, he didn't protest the unexpected reprieve. "I can at least help you cart them back upstairs..."

He paused for a second, blinking.

"Oh. And." A warm, gentle smile passed his lips. "Don't mention it."

-

-

- - -

-

-

It was a well-kept secret, but the truth of matter was that it was not the Head Generals that ran the Order. It was not the Exorcists or the scientists, it was not the Finders or Hevlaska or even Supervisor Komui. No, no, the person who really orchestrated everything in the Order was, in fact, Jerry. The cook. With his impeccable style and excellent sunglasses and abs like the face of a mountain, he truly ran the delicate inner workings of the Order and did his very best to keep it all working like a well-oiled machine. He spoke five different languages and understood at least six more, had a sharp ear for gossip, and could read body language like a book. He was a pro at what he did, and the talk of the town these days was entirely thanks to him. Brooke Fletcher and Edward Griffin were now Mr. and Mrs. Edward Griffin, and it was all thanks to a slice of Jerry's chocolate velvet cake. They would make each other very happy until their untimely deaths serving the Order, but at least they wouldn't have to face the years where the marriage went cold. Not a raw deal at all, in Jerry's humble opinion.

But with that blazing success behind him, Jerry was growing restless. How _lovely_ it would be to cater for another wedding. How absolutely _spectacular_ it would be to see a happy couple smile and know he had made the world a brighter place. Once was not nearly enough. No, he had to work his magic again. And again and again and again and again. It would be selfish to keep his talent all to himself, wouldn't it? Everyone had to do their part.

And so, halfway through making a gourmet omelet for someone's breakfast, Jerry decided on who would be blessed by his Cupid's arrow next. Someone whose happiness would benefit the entire Order.

Black Order Main Division, Chief Supervisor of General Affairs.

Komui Li.

Oh, Komui-tan needed someone so badly! That sister complex was getting out of hand! He really needed someone to get him away from all that and take him to candlelight dinners and moonlight walks and make sweet, passionate love to him all night long because if Komui was going to nap through his work, he might as well start having a legitimate reason. But who with...?

It couldn't be anyone like General Cross Marian at all. No, no one so intimidating or... well, Cross-like. That was the furthest from what Komui needed. Jerry found himself chewing on the edge of his apron in deep thought, wracking his brain for who could possibly fit the bill.

Then it hit him. Like a sack of potatoes thrown out of the shipping cart. _Why not Reever?_

Lately, Komui had been talking about that particular subordinate of his increasingly often. It was so classic! So romantic! Superior falls for his subordinate, who has secretly loved him all along but couldn't say anything because of their professional life! A dramatic and emotional confession of love! It was _perfect!_

And scruffy, unkempt, awkward around women, haggard, somewhat socially stunted Reever was everything General Cross wasn't. No chance of reminding Komui-tan of his former relationship.

Jerry really, really was brilliant. Ah, he loved to be him sometimes.

Smiling brightly while humming to himself, he went for the kitchen phone and called Komui's office. Komui always answered his calls, and it absolutely tickled Jerry to know that.

"Koooomui-tan!" he sang as he heard the other end pick up, "I need some help with my inventory and I'm all alone down here! Won't you pretty, pretty, pretty please come down and help me?"

After all that was sorted, he hung up and proceeded to call Reever's office, pulling out his 'I'm helpless, please save me' damsel card to convince the scientist to come as well.

And oh, he knew exactly which storage closet's door 'stuck' sometimes...

A few minutes later, Komui peeked curiously into storage room #3 next to the kitchen, having successfully snuck past the quiet front doors of the Science Department and down to see Jerry for some good old-fashioned time-wasting. Not that he was planning on just standing around like a lump down here -- helping out Jerry was _terribly _important work, after all. Why, it was entirely possible that Jerry was singlehandedly holding the Order together all by his lonesome. Who was Komui to deny such a venerable personage his due assistance in his time of need?

"Jeeeeerry-pon, I'm heeeeere!" he called out cheerfully as he walked in, noting the surroundings were free of anyone who might decide he needed to be dragged back upstairs. "What's up with the inventory, now? Are you hiding behind a box pile or something?" he wondered with a grin.  
_  
_As Reever had no need to sneak out of anywhere, he had arrived in the storage room about ten minutes earlier, whereupon Jerry had briefly joined him, told him all he had to do was make sure there were enough supplies to last the week, and run off saying he would be back in no more than ten minutes. Imagine Reever's surprise when it was Komui who joined him.

"...Supervisor?" he asked, sounding rather bewildered and a little bit strained. "You snuck out of your office again? What are you doing h--"

His question was interrupted by the door slamming shut and something that sounded alarmingly like a deadbolt sliding into place.

"...here?"

Komui whirled around at the noise with some startlement, automatically heading toward the door. "Jerry? Someone? Jerry!!" he called out, pounding on the metal for a moment before ceasing abruptly with a pained wince. He shook out his hand as he turned back around.

"Er... this is the long-term storage closet with the thick soundproof door, isn't it," he wondered aloud with a miserable expression.

"...it was a holding cell before the cafeteria had to be expanded," Reever groaned, having an incredibly uneasy feeling about the whole matter. Something about the way he could see Jerry's canines when the cook smiled at him earlier. "We're probably going to be in here until Jerry remembers." Which could very well take days, the way the cook was always swamped with food orders.

"...at least we won't starve to death."

"I guess we'll just die of dehydration," Komui pouted, walking over to plop down on top of a box labeled 'Dry Soup Stock'. "The water is all in the next storage room, isn't it? At least last time I was down here... ...which of course was a _very _long time ago since I certainly do not make a habit of shirking my very, very important duties in favor of Jerry's company," he hastened to add, beaming reassuringly and utterly unconvincingly at his Science Officer.

"Ah, well." He sighed. "I'm sure someone will notice we're gone eventually. I think I was supposed to be in a lab later today, maybe 65 will come down after us."

"I'd be more reassured if we ever knew where you were up at in the lab, Supervisor," Reever sighed wearily, "and if anyone ever missed me and without assuming I'm off looking for you."

"Hm. You have a point." Komui's answering smile was a sheepish one. He rested his chin in one hand, leaning his elbow against his knee as he hunched forward a little, gazing off thoughtfully at random into the interior of the storage room. One finger idly began twirling a strand of curly black hair.

"Ah, well. Guess there's nothing we can do but wait." He began glancing around at the various boxes and parcels with some interest. "Wonder if there are any leftover sweets from the wedding party in here...?"

"Yeah. I saw a box of bonbons from the party like five minutes ago. They're over here," Reever nodded, producing said box of sweets from behind a barrel of flour. He offered them to his supervisor before he found himself a seat on a crate of bread. He found an apple for himself and wiped it off on his lab coat before taking a bite out of it.

"Brooke sure looked happy, huh? Whole thing really lit up the Order again. I think Jerry's onto something. More wedding parties, fewer funerals. It'd certainly help morale around here," he mused aloud as he thought back to the party. Almost everyone had shown up and for once, if people were crying, they were crying because they were happy. It'd been nice to see. Reever had begun to forget love existed outside the trashy romance novels Jerry kept behind the counter. He believed in it a little better now, but he believed in it like he believed in being struck by lightning. Entirely possible, highly improbable. Especially since he spent too much time tracking down Komui to hope to have time to get his own work done, eat, find someone who'd be willing to put up with him in a romantic sense, and still hope to sleep.

"It _was_ a lot of fun," Komui agreed cheerfully, popping a bonbon into his mouth with a flourish. "I wouldn't mind officiating a wedding again... It was almost like being a _real_ priest," he continued without the slightest hint of irony in his voice, talking around the chocolate in his mouth so that one cheek bulged out ridiculously. (Speaking with your mouth full was _terribly_ rude, after all.)

"What do you think, Reever? Would you be willing to do the honors?" he wondered after he'd swallowed, smirking playfully.

"...do the honors?" Reever asked back, blinking at Komui blankly at first, then suspiciously. The supervisor's playful smirks couldn't be taken lightly. They were usually a precursor to mass destruction and tears. (It was Reever's own humble opinion that they should simply have Komui betray them and work for the Earl. The other side would unravel in a matter of weeks for certain, because it took strong constitution and deep faith to survive the phenomenon that was their Supervisor.)

"The honors for what?"

"Volunteering to get married, of course!" The wide grin on Komui's face revealed nothing about whether he was actually serious or not. "For the good of the Order! You said it yourself, after all," and he paused to nod solemnly, wagging a finger, "a nice wedding is the perfect way to cheer everybody up. We should just start scheduling one every month. Or maybe once a week...?"

Reever was beginning to hypothesize that being around the Supervisor's unique form of logic was actually _destroying his brain cells_. Or at least the neurological pathways that ran between them. For a long moment, he could only gape. He wanted to point out all the things that were wrong with that picture but didn't even remotely know where to begin. It was like trying to critique a painting of an Akuma saving puppies while tuning a piano and arranging flowers. There was so much wrong with it that there simply wasn't a starting point. Anywhere. Reever wanted to say, 'Supervisor, it doesn't work that way.' Or maybe, 'Supervisor, these things can't be forced.' Or even, 'Supervisor, if there are too many at once they'll lose their charm.'

But instead of any valid, logical argument, Reever only managed to sputter out, "M..._married_? Me? Who would I get married to?"

Reever abruptly felt something sharp between his shoulder blades and considered asking Komui to help him pull out the knife he'd just stabbed himself in the back with.

"Well, I don't know, who _would_ you get married to?" came Komui's _impossibly_ cheery response.

"What?" Reever asked again, sounding even more at a loss. What this an appropriate conversation to be having with his supervisor? Reever squinted a little and frowned a moment, then sighed and sat back.

"For me? Personally, I'd marry 65. He knows how to pull his weight better than anyone else on the team," he shrugged, then wished a moment later that he hadn't thought it through quite so clearly. But was that good enough to dodge the bullet? He _really_ hoped so.

"Oh?" Komui blinked. "Good to know. We'll just pencil you in for next Wednesday then..." He started rummaging around in his coat pockets with a thoughtful frown. "Did I bring any scrap paper?..."

Reever had pockets full of memo pads and spare pens, but for once he wasn't about to divulge that information. Instead he folded his arms over his chest and sat back, leaning against one of the shelves.

"While you're at it, Supervisor, you should schedule in Suman and Linali. She's been giving him these doe-eyes every time they pass each other in the hall," Reever commented offhandedly, making a show of inspecting the back of his hand.

Komui jumped to his feet and instantly dropped his beret, which he'd apparently taken off to check for scrap paper inside.

"SHE HAS!?"

The shocked expression faded after a second as he watched Reever's nonchalant act, and the Supervisor sunk back down into his place with a pout.

"You're joking, right? Please say you're joking. _I_ was joking. I wouldn't make you marry 65, you know," he said, looking the very picture of wounded as he picked up his fallen hat, dusted it off, and plopped it back down on his head. "...Well, unless you were actually in love with him..."

There was an awkward pause.

"Er, forget I asked," Komui hastened to add, beaming in a distinctly uncomfortable manner.

"No, I'm not in love with 65," Reever sighed out in a slightly squicked sort of way, gently massaging his temples, "and if you want me to be perfectly honest, I'm not really in love with anyone. I just don't have the _time_. You're talking to a guy who has to choose between brushing his teeth and shaving every morning." Reever ran his fingers over his stubble then, reminded that it was there.

"Really, we should leave the romance to the field agents. They're the ones who really need a reason to get out of bed in the morning."

Just outside, Jerry was tapping a spatula against his hip as he frowned. He had taken it upon himself to spy on them from the tiny hole he'd drilled in one wall in preparation for this and had discovered, much to his dismay, that Officer Reever was wallowing in the cesspool of emo he seemed to live in whenever, well... Always, usually. There were the rare occasions things went right and Reever would act like a normal human being, but usually it was just guilt, guilt, guilt, unhappy, unhappy, abused, abused. That boy obviously wasn't getting laid often enough. This wouldn't do at all, at this rate. Sighing deeply, he prodded around his genius for some sort of solution.

Spying all the while, of course. _Someone_ had to keep an eye on them.

"How unromantic of you." On the other side of the door, Komui pouted again for a second, before leaning back against another crate with a quiet laugh. "But I guess I can't really talk, I'm in the same boat... well, I _do _make time to shave _and_ brush my teeth every morning, and you might consider reworking your schedule a little to fit them both in," he added, raising an eyebrow at Reever. For a moment, he considered asking whether the other man had had anyone back home in Australia, but he'd probably pushed more than enough buttons over the past couple of days. Still, sometimes Komui found it a terrible shame that no one really talked about their past or about their homelands here. A whole world of knowledge and culture living together under one rooftop, and instead of sharing with one another, everyone just kept it all locked away in their heads because thinking of home hurt too much...

He glanced down toward the box of bonbons with a sigh.

"You make time to nap at your desk too, Supervisor," Reever laughed quietly back in a rather gentle tease, considering the source. Then he seemed to catch the slip in Komui's mood and he frowned a little, leaning toward the other to try to catch the look in his eyes.

"...something wrong?"

"Hm?"

Komui looked a little surprised as he glanced back up at the other man. He blinked for a second before meeting Reever's expression of concern with a small smile.

"Oh, just thinking what an odd place this can be sometimes." Which would have been the understatement of the century, if it was what he'd really been saying.

"Only sometimes?" Reever grinned faintly, shaking his head. "You're obviously not thinking hard enough then, Supervisor." But the researcher knew very well what Komui meant, how here and there the Order almost seemed like a strange sort of orphanage, a second home to so many of them. What was normal for them was horribly skewed by the standards of the rest of the world. And sometimes some things were strange to think about even for them.

"This place runs on tragedy, you know," Reever mused rather philosophically, because the thought had seized him. "No one wants to fall in love or have children, really, because it's too dangerous. They could die and do what their parents did to them, and those of us who have been there wouldn't wish it on anyone, least of all our own kids. So in theory, we should all die out in one generation, right? But out there, every day someone dies and leaves someone else all alone so we never hurt for manpower here. If it wasn't for the Earl, we probably wouldn't still be standing." There was a pause and a sigh then, as Reever tried to untangle his next thoughts.

"So really, we can't lose," he finally settled on, "if you want to think about it that way. As long as the Earl is fighting us and people are suffering, the Black Order will keep on existing." Reever paused again to laugh to himself, shaking his head.

"But that's only in theory. And we know best how often theories work out, yeah?"

"I don't know. I'd say it's more of a tested and proven hypothesis by this point," Komui murmured.

The expression on the Supervisor's face had gone quiet. He glanced intently over the box of bonbons as he ran a finger lightly over the top, finally stopping to choose a single one.

"But I don't think the Order would ever lack for members, even without that. They're really not too bad at recruiting people, either."

He picked the chocolate up to break it gingerly in half.

"Hmm. Amaretto."

"It's ridiculous to think about," Reever sighed, shaking his head, "but the people they recruit only make up a fraction of the Order. And they work us to the bone, but we get respect and prestige and sometimes we even get the day off. It's the sheer number people who line up just to die for the Order that really just... I don't know. I bring you death certificates and casualty reports almost faster than I can bring you enlistment notices for the Finders. You really have to have nothing else left to live for to want that. Even I wouldn't want that, and all I have is a four by five hole in the wall and something like ambition with all the naivete beaten out of it. You really have to have absolutely _nothing_ left." Reever set his apple core down slightly unsteadily, inspecting the floor for cracks.

"...the numbers terrify me some days, to be honest," he murmured quietly, then peered over at the box in Komui's hands.

"Do you have any hazelnut?"

Because hazelnuts were delicious and not at all depressing.

"Well... aren't we all like that?"

Komui inspected the box for a moment longer before plucking out another chocolate, handing it over to Reever. "Even if only a little."

The halves of the amaretto bonbon lay uneaten atop the overturned box lid.

"Maybe it's presumptuous of me, or maybe I've just been Supervisor too long," he murmured, gaze still turned downward toward the chocolates, "but I feel like I understand them, at least a little bit." He glanced in Reever's direction, expression sober.

"I mean... what would you have done? Not to presume anything, but."

His eyes turned off toward the far side of the storage room as he gave a faint shrug. "Even if all you had to offer was your body... can you honestly say you'd've turned away? Done something else? If they'd taken everything from you, wouldn't you want to take it back?"

He paused, blinking at the floor for a moment, contemplatively.

"I think... well, I was lucky. I had my brains to offer so I got this cushy job where I can eat bonbons and chat with you and watch everybody _else _go die," he said, one eyebrow raising on his otherwise totally impassive face, "but if I hadn't, I'd be out there with the Finders. It might not have been all the same for me but I still, sure as hell, wanted to take it back."

"Not you, Supervisor," Reever answered lightly, turning the candy over between his fingers as he spoke. "I don't think you'd ever die. You'd think, 'What would Linali do without me?' and then you'd kill Akuma with your bare hands if you had to. You're scary like that." He stopped long enough to pop the chocolate in his mouth, feeling marginally better as it melted into sweet bliss.

"It's not that I don't understand the feeling. Having everything taken away... it didn't really make me vengeful, you know? Just... tired. Tired and suddenly didn't know what to do with myself. It's hard enough to have focus when you're a teenager trying to do everything at once. The Order gave me a purpose. I'm thankful for it," he shrugged, shaking his head. "I know it's not like that for a lot of people, and I still understand what it's like to have your world ripped out from under you and want to take it back by any means possible." He'd witnessed it firsthand, after all.

"It's the numbers, is all, Supervisor. That I hand you pages and pages of names of people who don't have anything left but their lives that don't mean enough to them for them to want to hold on to anymore. The numbers scare me if I let myself think about them." The hazelnut bonbon tasted a little bitter in his mouth now. He stared down intently at his hands, swallowing dryly.

"...sometimes the name comes back so fast on the casualty reports that I still remember them."

But it was easier these days. There had been so many names that every name had begun to look familiar. It made pretending not to care a lot easier.

"Well."

Komui sighed quietly, and glanced down at his lap, rubbing the back of his neck with a helpless-looking smile.

"As your superior officer, the best thing I can suggest is to try not to think about it so much. It'll just make you crazy."

He quieted for a second as he shifted in his place. A world in which he could kick Akuma ass with his bare hands and never have to send Linali out to fight... wouldn't that have been nice.

"But they're not just here to die," he said quietly. "They're here to do their part, in whatever way they can. _Somebody _has to save the world, after all." He looked up at River with another small smile, pained perhaps, but resolute. "If not the likes of us, then who?"

"Heh, maybe we _should_ get Suman and Linali hitched," Reever sighed, smiling back. God, he wished the Supervisor wasn't so reassuring and dependable when push came to shove. It would've made wanting to smack him around for not doing his work a lot more guilt-free.

"Then they can have hoards of Exorcist babies and we can finally take a break. I'd even treat you to dinner."

"AAAAH! Don't even SAY that!!!" Komui fell off the crate in his sudden startlement, nearly taking the box of bonbons with him as he tumbled down onto the stone floor, face horrified. "Linaliiiiiiiii!" he moaned, stretching an arm toward the door in an expression of longing that was either terribly heroic or very silly-looking, depending on one's point of view. "Don't worry, big brother will protect you from all the perverts out theeeeeeeeeeeeere!!"

"What, you don't want little dark-haired minis of Linali and Suman running around, calling you 'Uncle'?" Reever grinned, sitting up a little straighter. There really was sport to be found in teasing Komui about his sister. It was probably why he enjoyed waking the Supervisor up from his naps so much.

"And just think, for every baby Linali has, it means that--"

"NOOOO DON'T SAY IT," Komui cried, clapping his hands over his ears. "I can't hear you! I give up! UNCLE!"

Reever decided to have mercy on Komui and let the subject drop, scooting off the crate he was sitting on to sit down next to Komui on the floor.

"There, there," he comforted, patting Komui on the shoulder. "It's okay. Linali's only sixteen. I'd kick Suman's ass myself if he tried to have babies with her. I think of her as a sister too, y'know? No men for her until she's at least thirty. Maybe forty."

"Sixty," Komui insisted in a pout, curled up in a semi-fetal position on the floor. "I _might_ consider letting her date at sixty."

He sighed mournfully as he sat back up again, leaning a dusty coat sleeve against his knee and plopping his chin in his hand, and generally looking like he dearly wished he could actually enforce that idea.

"...It is good knowing that there's somebody else looking out for her, though." He glanced in Reever's direction again. "Well, not that _everybody _doesn't, but you know what I mean. So. Thanks," he concluded, smiling.

"Funny thing about that," Reever grinned back with a slight shake of his head, "she could kick both of our asses if she wanted to, yet we fancy ourselves her protectors."

"Well, of course!" Komui nodded resolutely. "As big brother, it is my solemn duty to protect her from perverts, really big dogs, and things that go bump in the night! As surrogate big brother, you too are heir to these _important_ responsibilities," he said seriously, wagging a finger at Reever.

"And it's also our job to burn her breakfast, sneak her homework answers, call in sick for her in the event she wants to stay home and eat ice cream all day, and, in my case, learn a foreign language so that this is all possible," Reever agreed readily. He had been a big brother once, too. And oh, he had been such an awful kid but he'd been the world's _best_ brother. He had the forged permission slips to prove it.

Komui laughed as he reached up to dust off his beret, an easy smile returning to his lips again. "_You're not getting rusty now that she's picked up English?_" he wondered in Chinese, grinning as he reached back to the crate behind him to grab half of the amaretto bonbon. He popped it into his mouth cheerily.

"_Can I get worse?"_ Reever answered back in somewhat fluent but altogether horribly accented Chinese. "_She still laughs at my accent. If she has some bad times, I only speak to her in Chinese and she laughs._"

Komui smirked just a little. To tell the truth, it _was _a rather comical accent. But it was the meaning of the words that counted, right? "_Well, you can have a conversation just fine, that's the important part. I'm sure if you ever had to live in China and use the language every day, you'd be leagues better in no time. That's how it was for me with English. _You wouldn't believe how bad my accent was before I came to Europe... well, maybe you would," he said with another quiet laugh, switching languages again. "I don't know how the Order people I met ever managed to understand me."

"Aw, I think Chinese accents are cute," Reever smiled, giving Komui his best starry-eyed expression. Which wasn't a very good one, mind, but he was trying. "I would've loved to see you with your long hair and your young boyish charms and your barely comprehensible English. Linali used to tell me all about it. Of course, there was that one time she told me you looked great in silver and I thought she said you looked great in a dress..."

"Uh." Komui laughed a little embarrassedly, feeling slightly at a loss in the face of Reever's sudden turn into... was he teasing? "She told you stuff like that?"

"She never talked about anything else. You're still all we talk about when we have a couple minutes to chat. These days, though, mostly I complain about you and she apologizes. But I think I know way more about you than I care to, Supervisor," Reever nodded, shaking his head slightly, "but I won't judge. I'll keep all your secrets. I might blackmail you once in a while, but other than that, nothing to worry about."

"Well, if you haven't yet found reason to blackmail me by now, clearly I have nothing to worry about at all," Komui concluded cheerfully, snatching up the other half of the amaretto bonbon. "I really don't have many juicy secrets, anyway. Yes, I am not afraid of your wicked threats," he declared melodramatically, clapping a hand over his heart (and jostling some dust clinging to his uniform from the floor). "I have nothing to hi... to hi--- _Achoo!_"

The Supervisor rubbed at his nose and sniffled a little.

"...Hide," he finished with a slightly deflated pout.

"God, doesn't anyone but Linali look after you?" Reever sighed in disbelief. "She goes away for a couple days and you're already collecting cobwebs." And this was coming from a guy who slept in his lab coat most days. "Give me that before you infect the whole department." Reever held out his hand expectantly, the strained look on his face expressing something along the lines of 'please, Lord, in Your infinite grace, let me quarantine this man'.

"Well, I keep it clean _normally,_" Komui pouted as he rose to pull the coat off, "but I just fell on the floor, give me a break." He held it out to Reever with a wounded expression.

"...I wonder what time it is?" he murmured after a moment as he glanced toward the door.

"Hell if I know," Reever shrugged, folding the jacket to take to the laundromat later. Sometimes he felt that the wrong Li sibling had become an Exorcist. Linali was so much more responsible, and the black uniforms would hide Komui's scuff marks better. Ah, well. Life wasn't fair.

"Half an hour, maybe? The lunch rush'll probably hit soon, so it'll likely be a while yet." Reever paused a moment to look thoughtful, then quirked his lips to one side in a frown. "You know, we scientists get ripped off a _lot_. The Exorcists get Golems, the Finders get their phone boxes, and we get a wired telephone system that can never find anyone. If we were anyone but us, we wouldn't be trapped here still." But then again he was fully aware as to why they didn't and possibly never would have a better communication system in their department. Anything that would make finding the Supervisor a less grievous task was highly unlikely to get approved.

"Here, this is dirty too, I wouldn't want you to feel like you hadn't stolen enough of my clothing," Komui sniffed, stepping over to plop the still slightly-dusty beret down atop Reever's scruffy head. "Take good care of that, I got it in Paris. It's haute couture," he added with a sage nod as though he actually knew what he was talking about.

"Why don't you give me the pants while you're at it?" Reever sighed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He took the hat off his head and laid it on top of the jacket all the same.

It was right around then that the door swung open.

"Oh my," the slender girl standing in the doorway gasped, "am I interrupting something, ge ge?" Linali smiled cheerfully at them, giving Reever a little wave.

She'd arrived about twenty minutes ago looking for her brother. She knew he usually came here to skirt his duties, so Jerry was the first person she always asked about his whereabouts. Reever was actually her first-choice informant, but because the poor man was always searching for her brother as well, he was almost as elusive. The cook had been midway through putting together some soba when she asked and he had instantly grinned brightly at her, answering without missing a beat.

"Oh, yes, he's here! I locked him in the storage closet with Officer Reever about an hour ago or something like that. Oh my! I did lose track of the time, didn't I?"

Concerned as to what could possibly prompt Jerry to lock her brother in a storage closet, Linali had asked for an explanation and _boy_ did she get one. And, much to her own surprise, the thought it was a brilliant idea. She loved both her brother and Reever dearly, and she knew how lonely both of them were. Her brother always missed her when she went away, but she found it worse that Reever didn't have anyone to miss at all. Clearly something had to be done. Why hadn't she seen it before?

"I'll help!" she had exclaimed, clapping her hands together with delight.

And so here they were.

"LINALIIIII!!" Komui glommed onto her nigh-instantly, cuddling the younger girl to his chest. "You came to rescue your big brother! My heroooo!"

After a second, though, he pulled away slightly with a surprised blink.

"But how'd you know we were in here?" He glanced up toward Jerry, who seemed to be standing close behind. "Jerry, where were you? Your door's been stuck on us for_ ages! _I think somebody locked it!"

Reever, who was not preoccupied by the euphoria of seeing Linali, turned a faint shade of pink as he stood, still holding the jacket and beret in his arms. And he knew full well he'd heard the sound of the door being locked, but he didn't comment on that either. What was the point? Though why he'd been locked in the storage closet to begin with was puzzling and he_ was_ rather curious, asking around probably wouldn't get him anywhere. He'd just have to be the sneaky scientist he was to get to the bottom of things.

"Hi, ge ge," Linali laughed, hugging Komui back at his enthusiastic greeting, "I came looking for you because I missed you, of course! And when I got down here, Jerry suddenly realized he hadn't heard from either of you in almost an hour! You'll forgive him, won't you? He was caught up in the lunch rush." At that, she turned to beam innocently at Jerry. The cook would have been unnerved were he not so busy being exceptionally _proud_. The girl was a natural!

"Oh, I see. Well, next time at least stick around and tell us what you want us to do," Komui pouted in Jerry's general direction, still too preoccupied with Linali to give the matter much thought. She'd come to rescue him! He had the best little sister ever. There was absolutely no one in the entire world, not one single person, who was as proud of their little sister as Komui was of his. He would gladly have traveled the globe doing exhaustive research to prove it because he _knew _he was right, thank you very much.

"But of course we forgive him, don't we, Reever?" the Supervisor continued magnanimously, beaming down at Linali as he stepped out of the storage closet. "These things happen. No harm done and all that." Actually, it had been a really _spectacular_ way to not-do some paperwork. Chocolate, good company, good conversation...

"Mmhm," Reever half agreed, running his hand through his hair. It was true. Mostly no harm done. Except now he had this laundry to wash... but it _had _been nice to spend some time talking to Komui in a non-work related setting.

"You're the best," Linali beamed back up, then reached over to slip her hand into her brother's, tugging him a few steps forward. "Are you free this evening, ge ge?" she asked as unobtrusively as possible, giving his hand a squeeze. "I was hoping we could have dinner together in my dorm. Jerry was nice enough to offer to make us a picnic basket! Wouldn't that be fun, ge ge?"

"Of course I'm free!" said Komui, who currently had close to a week's worth of papers piling up on his desk waiting to be looked at. "That sounds positively wonderful! Let's do it." He glanced over at Jerry as he swung his hand in Linali's, adding cheerfully (and pointedly), "I think zhi ma qiu is the perfect food for apologizing for accidentally locking people in closets, don't you?"

"I'll have a batch ready in half an hour!" Jerry exclaimed with a flourish and a grin. "Anything else for my favorite Chinese siblings?"

"Hm... maybe some fresh mantou, egg and rice porridge, and... oh! Cold tofu! With sesame oil and soy sauce paste. And maybe some pickled cucumbers? Oh! And a shrimp and green onion omelet, okay?" Linali counted off on her fingers. It was really more a breakfast spread than a dinner spread, but those were her comfort foods.

"I'll have it all delivered to your room within the hour," Jerry promised. "Now shoo, you two. I can't get anything done with you children underfoot!"

Reever was sneaking out the back door at that point, trying not to look _too_ unhappy. Because even Komui needed a real day off once in a while, and Linali looked too happy to disappoint. Oh well. At least he could go do laundry. He'd find some way to get back at Komui in the morning, possibly in the form of extra forms to fill out. The kind with the little essay questions Komui hated so much.

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	2. Apart Together

_Catch-22_

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Hello again!

Some Chinese you'll want to know for this chapter:

diē- father, and

niáng- mother, respectively.

These are slightly archaic terms not used much in the modern world, but hey, this is the 1890s…

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_Ch. 2. Apart Together_

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After Jerry sent them along, Komui walked Linali back to her dorm room, swinging her hand between them in far-too-wide arcs and talking animatedly about completely inconsequential things. With all the duties they both had to take care of, the amount of time the pair actually got to spend together doing silly unimportant stuff -- and well, just generally _relaxing _-- was a great deal smaller than he would have liked. There was really nothing to be done about it, though, save make the most of the moments they _did _have.

"And so I decided it would be easiest if I just invented an Artificial Intelligence to file all the papers in their proper place," he was saying as they ascended the stairs, a slightly maniacal gleam in his eye. "As a bonus I figured I'd design him so Johnny could play chess with him..."

Linali seemed to give this declaration some thought before she smiled slightly and went on to hug his arm. "That sounds wonderful, ge ge! Just be... careful, okay?" Because no one believed in Komui like Linali did, but at the same time no one was more aware of his tendency to get ahead of himself than her. Her big brother was the kind of person who could start out trying to make her a doll and end up making her a fully sentient robot. And when trying to make a fully sentient robot, well, who knew _what_ could happen.

"Here we are!" she announced as they stopped in front of her room. Much to Komui's dismay, she had yet to install a triple set of bolt locks, row of door chains, and half dozen padlocks for her home security system. In fact, she didn't lock the door at all. She just turned the knob, pushed the door open, and stepped inside, pulling her brother along with her.

"Come sit down over here, ge ge! I want to braid your hair," she beckoned, tugging Komui toward her desk.

Komui laughed as he plopped down in the adjacent chair, leaning one elbow against the desktop. "Are you sure I have enough hair for that?" Picking up some pink lace-ribbon barrettes laid out on the desk, he held them up against his dark locks, batting his eyelashes up at Linali dramatically. "What do you think, is pink my color after all?"

"No, ge ge!" Linali gasped dramatically, taking up her brush. "If you put those on, I won't be able to call myself the prettiest Li sibling anymore!" She began to comb out the slight tangles in his hair, running her hands through it as well. "It'll be long enough for short braids. Or maybe pigtails! Like mine, ge ge! Won't that be cute?"

"I'll leave the decision up to you and your artistic hairstyling talents," Komui declared with an impish grin, shifting in place so he was at a better angle for Linali.

"Ah... this has been a wonderful day," he declared with a blissful sigh. "I had a nice conversation with Officer Reever, I got to eat bonbons, and now I get to have lunch with you and I only had to sign _one _paper this morning. I spent the rest of it drawing up blueprints for the AI," he added brightly.

"Pigtails, then," Linali nodded decisively. "I'm the best at those." She worked on his hair as she listened to him recount his day, smiling and nodding when it was appropriate. Her smile broadened a little bit suspiciously for a sweet girl like her when Reever was mentioned and she had to bite down on her lip lightly to hold back her comments until Komui was done. She had a plan, after all. Deviating from it could be disastrous, and she couldn't _possibly_ risk something as important as her brother's future well being.

"You like talking to Reever-ge ge then?" she asked lightly as she put up the left side of Komui's hair.

"Of course." Komui blinked; Linali couldn't see his expression from where she was standing, but his tone was surprised. "Why wouldn't I? He's interesting and we get along pretty well. Uh, when he's not trying to chase me down," the Supervisor amended with a slightly sheepish grin.

"Oh, I'm just glad to hear it. That's all," Linali smiled, tugging on Komui's new pigtail lightly before moving on to the other side. "It's just... you don't seem to have a lot of friends in the Order. I... I get worried sometimes, you know?" She sniffed a little at that and rubbed at her nose with the back of her hand.

Komui caught the sniffle, but managed to stop himself from whipping his head around just in time -- he didn't want to ruin Linali's hard work. "Aw, you don't need to worry about your big brother," he said soothingly. "I think of everybody as my friend here, really. I can't think of anyone who doesn't like me. ...Well, maybe Kanda."

"If I didn't worry about you, what kind of little sister would I be?" Linali asked, sounding a little bit wounded. "I know everyone gets along with you, ge ge, because you're a wonderful person but... you go to lunch with friends and you go shopping with friends and you have sleepovers with friends and your friends keep all your secrets for you. You don't seem to have anyone like that but me. And... and maybe Jerry-ge ge, but still I..." Linali stopped halfway through putting up the other side of Komui's hair to bury her face in her hands, drawing in a deep breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

"L--Linali?"

He hadn't realized she was really that upset about it. Unable to resist this time, Komui rose from his seat to fold Linali into his arms, stroking her hair with a soft smile. "Really, now. You'll make yourself sick worrying over me like that. I'm just fine, I promise."

He glanced upward for a moment with a thoughtful expression, cocking his head to one side. "I guess it's true that I don't really go shopping and have sleepovers and things, but I'm not sure I'd have time for that stuff anyway," he confessed slightly sheepishly.

"Being too busy isn't good for you either, ge ge!" Linali pouted out, managing her best lip-tremble. "I'm almost seventeen now, _ge_! T-that means you're almost thirty and... and you're still all alone and, oh, what would diē say? He and niáng were married before they were twenty! I've been so terrible at looking out for you, I--"

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Komui blinked at her surprisedly.

"Well... I'm sorry to say it, Li Li, but..." He smiled a little awkwardly. "I think maybe by now, well... a wife and kids probably just aren't in the cards for me." To tell the truth, he wasn't really so terribly sorry about that -- it was just as Reever had said, really; even if he'd had the time, even if he'd had the right person, marriage to a member of the Black Order was all too likely to end in tragedy. And then there was... well... it was horribly selfish, but the truth was, he'd never been all that interested in ladies anyway. He could have said it was because he was too devoted to science, but, well, he would have been lying...

"It doesn't have to be a wife and kids, ge ge," Linali whispered, her voice distinctly tearful now. She sank down to her knees, burying her face in her hands. "It just kills me inside to go on missions knowing there's no one to take care of you back home. Like... what if I were sent far away? It... it's so hard to focus when I worry that there's no one to bring you your coffee or cheer you up or take time to have dinner with you. I don't want you to have to grow old all alone, ge ge!"

"Well--"

Komui looked _very _unhappy, and a little flustered.

"I-- if you're really that worried about it--" He scratched his head, frowning as his gaze turned downcast. "What-- should I do? I don't really..."

His brow furrowed and he glanced up toward her again pleadingly, expression quite worried now. "Just, you don't need to feel so bad about it, okay...?"

Linali rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded slowly, sniffling still. She peered up at Komui after another moment's pause, eyes glistening with tears.

"Isn't there anyone you like, ge ge...?"

Komui bit his lip, looking quite apologetic.

"Um... not really," he admitted, smiling awkwardly. "So... well."

"No one?" Linali asked in a soft gasp, watery gaze still locked on her brother's face, "I-is there anyone you could try to get to know better or something, ge ge? Anyone? How... how about Kanda?" Inner Linali was very pleased with herself, smiling happily because she knew exactly what to do to make Reever-ge ge look as attractive as possible. Not that he needed much help, really, he was such a good guy and pretty handsome to boot but... well, her brother wasn't exactly known for his good judgement. There was a giant char mark on the wall of one of the labs to prove it.

"Um..." Komui blanched a little, smile turning dubious. "Not that he isn't nice, but I think he'd probably just as soon stick his sword through me as get to know me."

"Okay, then... then... How about Buzz? He's nice," Linali suggested as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Well, ah, he's a Finder and all..." Komui was starting to feel _extremely _awkward, on more than one level. How long must Linali have been aware that his proclivities tended more toward men...? And how in the world had she even found out? He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. "He's out on missions so often," the Supervisor continued dubiously, "it'd be tough finding time to talk..."

Truth was, there was nothing Komui could hide from her. She had, after all, spent most of her life as a half fangirl, half little sister sort of thing. Actually, she had always just been the kind of little sister that completely idolized her brother. She spent her every waking moment studying him, trying to better emulate the degrees of his awesome. She'd grown out of that stage a few years back to develop into her own person, but at this point there was nothing in the world Komui could so much as think in Linali's presence without her catching on. She could close her eyes when on a mission in another country and ask herself a question and she could know exactly what Komui would say to her. She could hear the tone of voice he used, the choice of words, the answer itself... Really. No one knew Komui the way Linali knew Komui.

And besides. Linali couldn't have another woman in her big brother's life, now could she?

"Jerry-ge ge, then?" Linali offered with another quiet sniff.

Komui almost had to laugh at the thought of himself and Jerry as a couple. Not that he didn't already love the other man in a certain way, but, well...

"Uh, Jerry and I already know each other pretty well, but I don't think you could really call it a romantic relationship," he said with an apologetic grin, plopping down next to her on the floor.

"I... I don't know then, I mean... I don't really know anyone else old enough because, well, I mean... Rabi is kind of okay but he likes girls so much and ge ge is very pretty, but it's not really the same and," Linali began to ramble, summoning her best distraught and running out of ideas sort of expression. Then she stopped to light up the way Komui lit up when the answer to an equation that had been puzzling him all night finally came to him.

"Ge ge!" she exclaimed, clasping both of her hands over his. "What about Reever-ge ge?"

"Umm--" For some reason that thought, combined with the sudden memory of having been locked in a closet all alone with said man for the last couple of hours, made Komui flush slightly.

"I don't think that would work either," he said apologetically, scratching his head. "He claims not to have time for that sort of thing. Though I think he could learn the value of taking a nice break every once in a while," the Supervisor lamented, raising his eyebrows with a slightly exasperated sigh.

"You're turning pink, ge ge," Linali teased in delight, tears stopping altogether as she playfully poked one of his cheeks. "I just want to pinch them… Or kiss them!" She paused to do exactly that, then continued on.

"So you _must_ like him a little bit to be blushing, right, ge ge? And I think he would _totally_ have time for you if he didn't spend so much of it looking for you, wouldn't he?"

"Well--" Having her point it out to him just made Komui more flustered. "I suppose he might, but-- Well-- I don't-- He, he seemed pretty adamant about it..." The young man paused to pout a little. "And... it's not like I have a crush on him or anything..."

Though as he thought about it... Reever _was _a very handsome man. Komui _did _quite like him, enjoyed teasing him, poking and prodding him, talking to him -- but -- no, what was he _thinking. _There were so many things wrong with the entire idea of this venture that he couldn't begin to list them all. And, well, the idea was just... _weird. _Him and Reever. And why would Reever ever want to spend _more _time around the object of his daily frustration, anyway?  
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_"It's just, since we just spent the morning locked up together in a storage room and all..." he continued his explanation in a mumble a moment later, looking profoundly embarrassed.__

"I've been trapped in an abandoned warehouse with Kanda for days," Linali pointed out, "and I never blushed when the other guys teased us about it when we came back." Mostly because she'd been too busy keeping Kanda from killing them, but the point was still there.

"That means you're attracted to him at least a little bit, doesn't it, ge ge?" she inquired, voice curious and slightly uncertain as though she was a little girl again, a little girl who needed something far beyond her area of expertise explained to her. "Isn't that a start?" It was the best news she'd heard all day, actually. Despite how well she knew to get through to her brother, there was really only so much even she could do if he honestly wasn't interested in anyone, and she wouldn't want to force him into anything he really didn't want to be a part of anyway. She was doing this because she didn't want to see him so lonely anymore, and because she agreed with Jerry at least a little bit that her brother depended on her too much. The blush on Komui's cheeks definitely gave Linali hope that her cause wasn't lost.

"...maybe we can have lunch sometime?" Komui gave in with a dubious sigh, willing to admit defeat if it would make his sister happy. He was quite positive this would all come to nothing and his relationship with Reever would continue to remain that of not-terribly-close, mostly-good-friends with the occasional bout of mutual exasperation; but, well, Linali had _cried. _He couldn't just _not _do anything about it.

"I really don't know about this, but." He grinned a bit uneasily and reached an arm over her shoulders to hug her against his side, expression turning warm and comforting again. "No need to get so upset on my behalf, okay? I'd rather see you smiling."

"Okay," Linali nodded agreeably, then wrapped her arms around her brother in return and hugged him back tightly. She buried her face against his side and closed her eyes, knowing the expression on his face exactly from the sound of his voice. She really loved how warm and soothing his voice was in moments like this.

"I'll try not to get upset anymore, but..." she mumbled against his shirt, sounding a little sleepy both because crying always exhausted her and for the sheer contentment she found in his arms. "You're the best brother in the whole world. You deserve... everything."

"Why, thank you," Komui replied magnanimously, kissing her on the top of her head. "So it follows that I also deserve a happy little sister, right?" he proposed, voice a little mischievious.

"Of course! And nothing would make your little sister happier than seeing you in a really pretty wedding dress with a very handsome groom and a seven layer cake Jerry and I will bake together," Linali sighed longingly. "And of course I won't hesitate to take advantage of my Innocence when it comes to catching the bouquet." She returned his look of mischief and reached up to pull his one pigtail again.

"Well, you probably shouldn't start planning our wedding ceremony just yet," Komui replied with a laugh, leaving entirely aside the issue of why in Linali's dream wedding he was apparently stuck wearing a dress... "First we have to get to the actual courtship part." He could barely believe he was actually discussing this, it was just so embarrassing... But he'd never been able to say no to Linali, no matter what the occasion.

"It's never too early to plan, ge ge!" Linali chided. "Do you have any idea how much work goes into planning a wedding? I mean, there's--"

Before Linali had a chance to begin listing off the long and grueling task that was planning a wedding, she heard a knock at her door.

"Oh! That must be the food!" she exclaimed. Unwilling to actually leave her brother's side now that she was so comfortable, she simply called out for the person on the other side to come in and gave her brother an extra snuggle, looking positively radiant. "Oh, I'm going to eat the zhi ma qiu while they're still hot!"

"Room service," Reever declared dryly as he let himself in. The Supervisor's now clean coat was folded over one arm, a picnic basket was held in his opposite hand, and he was wearing the beret on his head because he had to put it somewhere in order to open the door. His flat, rather unimpressed expression suggested that he was going to go back and read over his employment contract because he was _certain_ none of this was in his job description.

"...uh, Supervisor?" he blinked once he realized that exactly half of Komui's hair had been put up in a ponytail. "That's... what is that?"

"Hm? What's what?" Komui glanced around the room confusedly for a second, before the single pigtail on the side of his head swung into his field of vision for a second. "Oh, this?" he said cheerfully, pointing at his head. "Linali was doing my hair."

...it was really true, he realized to his chagrin, now that he bothered to think much about it. Reever was terribly cute, in a scruffy sort of way. Even the slightly sour expression he was wearing at the moment looked good on him because, well, it was so very _Reever. _If the very thought hadn't been completely impossible, Komui supposed it was true that he might not have, maybe, sort of, kind of, minded at least a cursory attempt at dating the other man. Which was fortunate since 'cursory' was going to be exactly what he aimed for. He didn't want this to make Reever's life any harder than it was already.

"Thanks for bringing all that up," he said smilingly, giving Linali another squeeze before he reluctantly rose to go take the various items off Reever's hands. He slipped into his coat, accepted the rather heavy picnic basket, glanced up at where the beret was sitting and... grinned.

"Hmmm, maybe I should let you borrow it. It adds a certain je ne sais quois," he decided brightly. "Care to have lunch with us?"

"You can keep it, thanks," Reever declined quickly, transferring the hat back to its proper owner's head. "It takes a lot of effort to get my hair to stand up straight like this, you know. I have to sleep on it just right for at least six hours, and I barely ever get to sleep that long. Can't give myself hat hair, you understand." He was joking in that Reever way of his, smiling faintly while speaking as though he was being completely serious. People who didn't know him well tended to miss that and found him to be a very serious guy, but his team knew better.

"As for lunch, I might just have to take you up on it," he laughed, nodding at the basket. "I smelled that all the way up here and now I'm in the mood for Chinese."

"Well then, have a seat!" Komui gestured off in no-direction-in-particular, before proceeding to take care of the important part: he set the basket down on Linali's desk, opened the lid, rummaged around through all the delicious-looking food for the zhi ma qiu, and popped one into his mouth. "Mmm."

"Those are bad for you, ge ge!" Linali grinned, climbing up after him. "They'll ruin your perfect figure, so you should let me have them." She took the whole container out of the basket and whisked it away playfully. With it still in hand, she spread out one of her sheets on the floor.

"Reever-ge ge, will you help me set out the food?"

"Hm? Yeah," Reever nodded, snapping himself out of marveling at how cute Linali and Komui were together. He helped Linali arrange the food around on the sheet before plopping down in front of the mantou, which were his favorite. Linali sat down as well, still holding the zhi ma qiu in her lap.

"Have a seat, ge ge!" she invited, nodding to the space next to Reever.

"But... I'm the one who asked for those," Komui pouted, plopping down into his spot. He did not fail to notice Linali had arranged things so that she was facing the two men, while they sat beside each other. His sister _did _have a bit of a crafty streak at times.

She did take after him, after all.

Lunch was consumed at a leisurely pace, with Linali encouraging Komui to show interest in Reever by feeding him a sesame ball whenever her brother took the initiative to inquire about Reever's day or something of the like. Reever, meanwhile, was beginning to catch on but only in the vaguest sense. Just enough to tell there was something strange going on that he wasn't being clued in about, and given that it concerned the Li siblings, he was beginning to wonder whether or not he should be concerned.

'Concerned' meaning 'terrified for his life'.

When the plates were mostly empty and the last bite of mantou found its way to Reever's mouth, Linali began to pack up the dishes back into the basket. She looked up at the clock on the wall as she cleaned up and widened her eyes at the time.

"Oh no! I promised Deisha that I would go spar with him today and I completely forgot! I only have another fifteen minutes before I have to get down there!" she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "But I need to pick up some white peach scented medical salve for my next mission." She looked troubled as she crossed her arms, deep in thought.

"I couldn't possibly stand Deisha up, that would be too rude, but... Oh, what should I--" Linali looked up then, at Reever and Komui, and smiled her 'I'm about to ask for something' smile at them. "Ge ge," she sang, "could you be bothered to pick it up for me? They sell it in a little shop just in town. And Reever-ge ge, could you please, _please_ go with him to make sure he gets the right kind?"

"Why, I would be _happy _to," Komui positively beamed, shooting up from his place on the floor. (His enthusiasm may have had something to do with the fact that a trip into town would mean at least three or four more hours in which he could dodge doing anything resembling work.) "So which shop are we off to? What street? How many? When do you need it? _Right now, _correct?" he answered himself brightly, pushing up his glasses with one finger and wearing a slightly maniacal grin.

"I don't precisely remember, but it should be somewhere down the main street. Or one of the side streets going off the main street," Linali answered as vaguely as possible. "And yes, as soon as possible please, ge ge."

Reever cast them both a very skeptical look. _White peach_ medical salve? Either he hadn't had a girlfriend in so long that he had forgotten the sheer extent of the female need to make everything exceptionally girly or he was being sent on a wild goose chase with the Supervisor. Though because it had been an admittedly very freaking long time since he'd last even had a woman interested in him, he let Linali have the benefit of the doubt.

"Well then, Officer Reever," and Komui turned the 500-watt smile on him, knowing full well that even Reever was unlikely to back out of a request from Linali, "shall we get going?"

"Uh-huh," Reever sighed, half turning for the door before he paused, raising one hand to point at the Supervisor.

"Uh, Supervisor?" he began, speaking with a sort of half-grimace, half-smile. "...you're going to take your hair down before we go, right?"

Komui blinked.

"..._Oh. _Right. Yes. I am." He reached back to pull the ribbon out of his hair and set it in Linali's hands, patting her head with a smile.

"See you later, okay? Be careful sparring."

"Have fun!" she called out after them, waving enthusiastically. As soon as they were gone she closed her door and summoned her Golem. She had to let Deisha know that they were scheduled to spar today.

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After checking in at the Science Department to let everyone know they'd be out of the castle for a few hours (Komui may have been a very _slightly _irresponsible human being, but not so much so as to just wander off the premises without telling anybody), Komui and Reever summoned one of the order carriages and trotted off in the direction of the nearest town. Willowshire was the biggest city in the area, not that that was saying much compared to the great metropolises like London; it boasted a population of about 15,000 people, and if you were looking for amenities or luxury items of any sort and couldn't afford to travel far, it was pretty much the only place to stop. Komui himself, despite having been at HQ a number of years now, wasn't too familiar with its ins and outs -- it was rare that he had the time or opportunity to visit more than two or three times a year -- but most of the Order's drivers were Catholic laymen, and they generally knew the area quite well, living, after all, in the world outside the Order. (It depressed Komui terribly to realize he'd started thinking of everything outside the castle walls as "the outside world".)

"I don't think I've been out of Headquarters since... before Christmas, at least," he mused a little sadly, peering down the road and at the trees and brush outside their window. They had a few miles to go yet. "I'd ask when was the last time you'd been, but there's probably no point, is there," he observed, raising an eyebrow at the other man.

"The sky is still blue out here, huh?" Reever mused with a shake of his head to answer Komui's question. It had been months since he'd last left the Headquarters himself. In fact, it might have been going on a year by now. "Funny, it all looks so peaceful. You'd never think the world was slowly ending." Ah. That was it. Why he hadn't left the Order in going on a year. He shook his head slightly and turned his gaze to his lap.

"Let's just find whatever Linali needs and go home, yeah?"

Komui's answering smile, too, was a little bit sad.

"Sure."

They passed the gates of Willowshire in short order, and as they weren't exactly sure which shop they were supposed to be looking for, they had the driver take them slowly down Main Street until they spotted a few likely possibilities. By the time they'd visited their third medical supply shop, asked for white peach-scented salve, and gotten strange looks every time, however, Komui was starting to feel a little disheartened.

"Maybe they don't make it anymore?" he worried as they headed down the street back to their carriage from store number three. "Maybe the store she remembers went out of business? Maybe they don't sell it in England? We can't just come back with _nothing,_" he concluded miserably, frowning down at the flagstones and looking rather like a dejected puppy.

"I don't know what to tell you," Reever sighed, shaking his head. "Closest I've ever had to this problem is not being able to find the doll Gabby wanted for her birthday. I brought her home a big bag of candy instead. She was so hyped up on sugar for the next week straight she forgot all about the doll." He laughed a little to himself at that, the sound trailing off as he clenched and unclenched his hand, trying to shake off the strange feeling he had.

"This is a little different though, in'nit?" he shrugged. "Linali needs that salve for her mission."

Komui sighed. "Well, I'm sure she can get medical salve from the infirmary. She'd probably just rather have something that smells better..."

One eyebrow raised slightly as his gaze shifted over to Reever.

"Gabby--..." He hesitated and decided to leave out the 'is' or the 'was'. "...A relative?"

"Yeah," Reever nodded, turning his head to offer Komui a slightly sad smile to show him that it was okay. It was okay to ask. He liked to talk about his sisters, because he missed them all the time. Talking about them made him feel better, because he wanted people to know that they were people, wonderful, wonderful people who once lived.

"One of my sisters, the little one. She was... oh, about this tall when I left home," Reever continued, gesturing somewhere around his knee. "She was three years old. Very girly. She wanted to grow up to be a princess. Or a bride. The other one is Marleen. She was seven when I left and came up to my... hip, maybe? I might have been shorter then myself, though. Marleen took after me. If we weren't blowing things up in the yard, we were climbing trees. Drove my mother insane." He paused a moment to think.

"...they'd be eighteen and fourteen now."

Komui returned the smile with a small, quiet one of his own.

"They sound... perfect," he settled on at last.

It explained a lot about why he got along so well with Linali. Did he dare ask more? He was always curious about what kind of lives his various Order fellows might have led before joining up, but it just wasn't cricket to go around prying into people's painful old memories, especially when they were people you were supposed to be personally responsible for. However, if he was really going to get to know Reever better...

"Was it just the three of you?" he wondered gently, with a curious tilt of his head as they continued down the street.

"Nah. Ma was always around for dinner and stuff after work," Reever shrugged, sounding more and more like a slightly delinquent teenager as he slipped back into the Australian accent he usually suppressed. "My ol' man worked a lot more, but he was around now and again. I watched Marleen and Gabby during the summer and after school."

"...Sounds familiar." Komui's smile now was rather wistful. "I guess the basics aren't so different from place to place..."

The smile twitched a little as he paused.

"Your Australian is showing, by the way," he observed amusedly.

At that, Reever actually turned a faint shade of pink and coughed, covering his mouth. It wasn't really that his accent embarrassed him as much as he tried to kind of... be stealthy and stay under the radar. He remembered his first year at the Order, when everyone who met him immediately asked him to say something 'Australian'. He had never had to say 'get your arse in gear' so many times in the span of a few days in his life, and he'd previously lived with two little sisters. It left him a little terrified to be known as 'the Australian', so he had been stripping his accent from his language ever since. He'd forgotten briefly when talking about his sisters because that was how he'd always spoken to them. Thankfully, only Komui was around.

"Uh, sorry. I promise not to call you 'mate' provided we forget what just happened."

"Well, it's not like it's something that needs apologizing for," Komui pouted, as they stopped on the street next to the carriage. "I just thought it was cute."

More blushing. Reever rubbed his nose.

"...cute?"

"Well? Yes?" More pouting. "Because it was? You never talk like that. You know, I think you're the only Australian I know, too," Komui added as an aside, tapping a finger against his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Most of them end up with the Oceania branch and all."

"That's why I hide the accent. If the boys at the lab make me say 'dingo' one more time, I just might have to kill everyone," Reever admitted a little bit sheepishly, shaking his head. "It was mostly luck I ended up here anyway. My folks sent me to England for my studies."

"Really?" Komui blinked. "Is that a common thing? Just when I think I've learned enough European customs to hold a conversation..." he murmured to himself bemusedly, rubbing a thoughtful finger against his chin.

"Wouldn't know, really," Reever shrugged. "It might've just been the place we lived. A shack in the middle of nowhere, you know? Our backyard was half the continent and it was a two hour walk to school every day. The education quality around here is supposed to be better, to my understanding." He paused a moment then to pat Komui on the head, grinning faintly.

"I forget you're Chinese sometimes, Supervisor. The stereotypes say you're all supposed to be serious and smart and play the violin."

"Well, it's not my fault if I can't carry a tune," Komui pouted, before glancing over at their carriage driver, who was looking a little impatient.

"But, anyway. A substitute present... What would be good..."

He walked slowly over to the carriage door, looking thoughtful, and reached out for the handle...

"Ah! Ice cream!" the Supervisor proclaimed with a stunning lack of logic.

"Ice cream...?" Reever blinked in response, scratching his chin. "I guess Linali _does_ like ice cream, but... couldn't she get that from Jerry?"

"Jerry, while being an extremely talented individual," Komui replied, doing a 180-degree turn to hold up a finger at Reever, "does not make his own ice cream, he orders out for it. And he doesn't generally keep green tea ice cream in stock, but!" He beamed, looking just about as pleased with himself as he normally looked after putting the finishing touches on a new invention. "I know a shop off the square that has it sometimes. It's Linali's favorite."

Without waiting for any input from Reever, he bounced over to the carriage driver and pointed down the street, asking the man to see them to a certain gourmet confectionery.

In a fashion truly reminiscent of the rest of his life, Reever had little choice but to follow, climbing in after Komui before the carriage left without him. At least it was only ice cream. It was hard to cause disaster with ice cream. He was sure a genius like the Supervisor could manage it, but most likely everything would be well. ...and Reever did admittedly like ice cream. He vaguely wondered if they had mango flavored.

-

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- - -

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Another couple of hours and three rather expensive cups of ice cream later, Komui and Reever carried their purchase through the doors of Order HQ, carefully secured in a small wooden crate filled with dry ice. (Though he'd remembered it was a _gourmet _confectionery, Komui had had to wince a little at the combined price of three ice creams and a storage box -- fortunately, he left Headquarters so rarely that he had more than enough money saved up from his Church stipend to be able to afford a few fripperies. He'd happily shoved Reever out of the way and paid for his subordinate's portion as well.) "I suppose we should find Linali and fill her full of ice cream while it's still good," Komui mused, glancing around as they walked down the first floor hall. "I wonder if she's done sparring yet...?"

It was just then that Linali and Deisha turned a corner, laughing together looking as though they'd been doing anything but sparring. Not one hair on either of them was out of place, Deisha had one arm slung over Linali's shoulders, and they seemed to be sharing some sort of inside joke.

"Oh, it'll be so wonderful when--" Linali began, but cut herself off as she caught sight of Komui and Reever out of the corner of her vision. "Oh!" she exclaimed with a bright smile, quickly masking her surprise. "Back already? Did you find it?"

Komui proceeded to look quite frowny-faced and guilty and absolutely the farthest one could possibly be from suspicious. "Well... we tried a bunch of different shops, but none of them had it. I guess you'll have to settle for the regular salve," he confessed, shamefaced. "But, um, I did get you a little something to apologize..."

He pointed toward the wooden box currently cradled in Reever's arms, grinning a little. "What do you think is in here?"

"Um..." Linali stepped forward and peered at the box, tapping her finger against her lips as she tried to think.

"Linali," Deisha called, "I'm going to get out of here, okay? Give me a call if you need me." At that Linali turned briefly to wave goodbye to him before returning to the task at hand.

"Hm..." she sighed out, looking at the box from multiple angles before finally straightening. "...a puppy?"

"...uh, Linali, the box doesn't have any breathing holes in it," Komui pointed out with a slightly awkward grin.

"Nope. It is not a puppy. But almost as good, it's green tea ice cream!" he proclaimed, beaming. "Sorry, it's not actually as big as the box, that's just to keep the dry ice in. And there's also pistachio for me and mango for Reever..."

"Oh! Ge ge!" Linali exclaimed, throwing her arms around Komui. "My favorite! Thank you! You two will stay long enough to eat with me, right?" And because her brothers rarely refused her, the three of them found themselves in her room once more. Linali made everyone try her ice cream because it was so positively delicious, how could anyone not like it? Reever found himself to be no exception. Somehow this led to that and, not entirely unlike being hit by an errant ball and suddenly finding yourself on your back staring at the sky, the poor researcher found himself being dragged away from Linali's room and down the stairs to the kitchen. The Supervisor was saying something about getting Jerry to start ordering green tea ice cream and was positively skipping down the hall. (Making Linali smile tended to have that effect on him.) All of which Reever agreed with, it was just... he didn't understand why his presence was necessary, or why Linali had taken his hand and put it into Komui's. He was still puzzling over this when they stumbled into the cafeteria.

"Jeeeerry-pon!" Komui called out in a singsong, slowing down to a walk and letting Reever go as they headed inside. It was nearly the end of the dinner hour; the tables were still packed with Finders who'd headed in for a last-minute meal, but in the kitchen Jerry would be close to free, serving the last few stragglers to arrive and maybe beginning to think about cleanup. He was often quite pleased to have a chat with Komui as he wiped down the counters.

"K-Komui-tan!" Today, though, Jerry sounded anything but pleased, more worried and alarmed than anything else as he turned from what he was doing to greet Komui. "You shouldn't be here right now! Go back to your office and work, okay? Reever, won't you please take him back to--"

"...Supervisor?" a quiet, unobtrusive sort of voice asked from a table left of Jerry. The owner thereof stood and turned around. It was a young Finder, perhaps getting into his late teens. Short brown hair, plain brown eyes, unremarkable features. Quite easily forgettable, actually. "Supervisor Komui?" the boy repeated, looking up at him. His face and eyes were quite red from crying, the tears still steadily streaming down his face.

"It's me, Nathan. Do you remember me...?"

At this point all of his friends had stood as well, various Finders of all ages and sizes, most of them glaring at Komui as though the Supervisor was nothing more than the crumbling remains of an Akuma.

Komui recognized the voice. Despite what people might have thought about his responsibleness or his intelligence or, or his anything... he knew _everybody's _voice. He knew...

He knew something was horribly, horribly wrong and all of a sudden his stomach was full of not ice cream but _ice _and he knew it was absolutely, positively his fault.

He just couldn't place what...

"Nathan Miller...?" he said, voice quiet, turning slowly in his place to meet the boy's gaze. "What are..."

...Nathan was crying. He was standing all alone in this big crowd of... Where was his brother...? Nathan and Daniel were never apart when they--

...oh.

_God._

The whole crowd got to watch as their Chief Supervisor's eyes widened, the shock and then the utter horror that surfaced across his features, suddenly strained and taut and looking fit to snap in two.

Komui just stood there, limply.

"Oh, God," he took the Lord's name in vain in a very small voice indeed. "Nathan... I didn't mean to..."

"I-I got the notice this morning," Nathan whispered, bringing his arm up to wipe his eyes. There was something small and crumpled and pale blue clenched in his hand. "I was only in town for a day. I didn't even know he'd been sent out, I... You promised us, didn't you, Supervisor Komui? To always send us out together, and..." One of the stockier men in the group put his hand on Nathan's shoulder and shook his head.

"C-Conner--" Nathan began, looking up at his fellow Finder. Conner only shook his head and stepped between Nathan and Komui, expression very flat and very angry.

"We know your kind don't take us Finders or our lives seriously," Conner growled, clenching his hands into fists. "We know there are people fallin' over themselves to take our places when we die. We know where we stand here in the Order, we do. Most days we even accept it. It's just our lot in life. But you. You made this boy a _promise_ to let him die with his brother and you _broke_ it." Conner cracked his knuckles.

"You know you fucked it this time, don't you, Supervisor?"

Komui swallowed and tried to force words past the lump in his throat.

"I... I should have been more vigilant. I never meant for--"

"Yeah, well, sorry isn't gonna help Nathan sleep at night, is it?" Conner snorted humorlessly, then pulled back his arm and drove his fist at Komui's face as hard as he could manage. The Supervisor just stood there, looking sad and resigned...

Oh of all the stupid things-- Reever only needed a single glance at Komui's expression before he grabbed the back of the Supervisor's collar and _pulled_, even as he stepped between Komui and the coming blow. He felt Conner's fist clip the side of his face and make solid contact with his shoulder, heard the distinct sound of bone departing from socket. Gritting his teeth, he let himself fall down onto one knee like his body so badly wanted to and glared up at Conner, catching the Finder's wrist in his good hand.

"Don't blame the Supervisor," Reever snapped, trying to ignore the feeling of broken glass shards wedged in his dislocated shoulder. "I wrote that dispatch notice. He just stamped it."

"_Shit, _Reever--" Komui was now looking slightly panicked, hands half-stretched out as his head whipped back and forth between the two men, looking absolutely nothing like someone who supposedly commanded all of Headquarters. "What did you do that for...!?" It wasn't clear which of them the remark was directed at. Seeming to realize after a second that the breakout of a riot was not an impossible occurrence even within the bowels of the Order, he glanced up toward the onlooking Finders, some of whom seemed to be gaping astonishedly while others still scowled at him.

"Everyone please just -- stay calm..."

"Please, everyone!" The normal buoyancy was absent from Jerry's voice. He also stepped between Komui and the Finders, facing the angry group. "There will be no more fighting in my cafeteria!" He crossed his arms over his chest to make a display of the well toned muscle that was there, warning them not to try anything else. A couple of the Finders exchanged glances but Nathan had yet to stop crying and Conner looked very ready for a fight.

Then a blur of black and softly billowing pale green leaped over several tables and somersaulted into the air, landing directly beside Jerry. Linali glanced between Reever and her brother and the Finders once before her expression settled on something cold.

"Please go back to your rooms," she requested softly. "Your lives are fragile enough without my help."

There were a few discontented rumbles from the crowd, but Finders, being experts in fighting enemies they had no real chance against, knew when they were outmatched. Gradually, in twos and threes, the group began to disperse and trickle out of the cafeteria. Conner looked reluctant to go, but Nathan tugged gently on the hem of his shirt and they left together, Conner's hand on Nathan's shoulder as the boy continued to sniff into his sleeve.

Komui seemed to deflate a little, expression almost entranced as he watched everyone file out. After the very last had gone he let out a long, unsteady breath. Blinking, after a moment his gaze whipped down toward Reever, looking almost as if he'd managed to forget about the other man; one slightly shaking hand reached out toward his subordinate but Komui seemed to think better of it after a moment, and snatched it back, crouching down next to Reever on the floor.

"Reever? Are you -- _why did you do that, stupid_?" he demanded after a moment, voice sounding perilously close to breaking. He didn't wait for anything resembling a response before springing to his feet again, walking a small restless circle with arms crossed over his chest.

"Um, someone should call the medics..." he muttered toward the floor. "Or maybe just bring him over there... Um..."

The Supervisor took a deep breath, one hand coming up over his mouth as he slid it across his face a little.

"I'm really sorry." His voice was quiet, directed at no one in particular; his eyes were still fixed on the dusty flagstones. "For all the trouble."

"It looks like it'll hurt to move him," Linali managed, voice quiet because she tended to get quieter when she was upset. She had seen her fair share of battle wounds and a dislocated shoulder was easy enough to recognize. "He should be okay. Someone just has to pop the bone back in, which hurts all on its own, but... Here, let me--" She knelt down next to him and gingerly took his arm, apologizing to him under her breath. Then, in a single motion, she twisted his arm and pulled until the joint snapped back into place. Reever turned a fair shade of white and made a hiss that sounded something like a balloon deflating.

"You'll need a sling of some sort for a bit, Reever-ge ge," she breathed, sighing heavily in relief. "Jerry-ge ge, do you have anything?"

"I'm sure I do." Jerry nodded as he quickly jogged for the kitchen to find something sling-like. He could butcher an apron or something.

"...all right, _I'll _call the medics, then," Komui decided, following Jerry a little shakily into the kitchen to use the telephone. The shade of white he'd turned merely listening to the re-setting of his subordinate's shoulder was nearly as impressive as Reever's, and slow to fade. He toyed with the receiver cord as he picked up Jerry's phone.

"H-hi, Infirmary? Komui... Yeah, in the kitchen... Um... could you send down a couple people... um... with painkillers?..."

"O-on our way, Supervisor," the bewildered medic on the other end stammered. It wasn't every day your Head Officer called for painkillers sounding like someone had died.

By the time Komui was off the phone, Jerry had returned with a freshly butchered apron and was helping Linali put Reever's arm into a sling.

"Stop fussing, you guys," Reever sighed, though it sounded as though he was still clenching his teeth. "It's really not that bad. Sore as hell, yeah, but I'm not dying, okay? Supervisor? It's okay."

"Oh. Um." Komui just stood there in the kitchen doorway, still looking rattled and not entirely convinced. "Good."

Before long he wandered over to sit down on the floor beside Reever, head plopping down into his hands.

"We've had a long day, huh...?" Komui murmured, managing a shaky, rueful smile.

"If you don't mind, um... don't go around getting people to hit you like that, okay?... I think you took five years off my life there..."

"Yeah," Reever laughed, if only because everything felt so tense there didn't seem to be anything else to do. "I try not to make a habit of it, but I couldn't stand the thought of him damaging your pretty face. Or something like that. It's fine. A dislocated shoulder on my end is better than a broken nose on yours, don't you think?" He paused long enough to offer Komui a weak smile, slightly strained smile, reaching out to poke the Supervisor's nose.

"Though if we put a big bandage right there, it might just go with your coat and your beret."

For a long second or three, Komui just blinked at him, with wide, surprised eyes. Then at last a smile spread slowly over his face again, and he started laughing.

-

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	3. Heartfelt ConvolCoffee Fixes Everything

_Catch-22_

_- _

Long time no see :) Sorry, yours truly got lazy about posting chapters! We've got quite a few to go yet so I'll try not to leave people hanging so long from now on… Also you'll notice in this chapter that everybody continues to have a completely accepting attitude about being gay that sadly does not mesh with reality or with the 1890s. We are calling this part of our AU, because it just wouldn't be much fun if the next couple hundred thousand words were about Komui and Reever running away from angry mobs trying to stone them.

This chapter's Chinese glossary:

Hé - river

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_Ch. 3. A Heartfelt Conversation, or, Coffee Fixes Everything_

_- _

For the next week or so, no one saw much of the Supervisor. Though the staffrooms and cafeteria buzzed with talk of a fistfight between a Finder and a Science Department member, the man who'd been the cause of it all, Komui Li, seemed to have vanished somewhere into the bowels of Headquarters. His bed wasn't slept in, gossiped the maids who came to mop the floors and empty the trash cans each day; not a speck of clothing had moved from his closet. Meanwhile, his office door was locked up tight. Jerry had his people set out trays twice a day on the floor in front, and they would return to find them sometimes picked-at, sometimes untouched. If Linali had been at Headquarters, she might have dared to venture inside -- but she was far away on a mission, and thus the Supervisor was left to his own devices.

It was about, oh, an hour after Reever removed his sling and found himself able to move his arm without feeling pain, that the Head Officer was all caught up on gossip and found himself standing outside Komui's office. He didn't even waste time with knocking. Instead, he unlocked the door wordlessly with his spare key and let himself in. (He kept a spare key because Komui was generally unfailingly himself and needed someone responsible to have a spare key. Sometimes Komui locked himself out of his office, other times he locked himself in to avoid work. Whatever the case, Reever's spare key always came in handy.)

"Supervisor, what on earth have you been--"

That was as far as Reever managed to get, because after that he saw the room. Really _saw_ the room.

It was... _clean_.

Spotless.

The floor was mostly clear of stray papers.

The books on the shelves no longer looked haphazardly shoved into place.

Piles of paper were neatly sorted on the desk.

Clearly Reever was dreaming. Or perhaps dead and this was Heaven.

However, far from relief, Reever only felt a mounting sense of dread. Something was terribly wrong with Komui, worse than it had ever been. He had never seen the Supervisor so upset, so much so that his office was clean and his outbox dwarfed his inbox.

"...Supervisor?" he ventured, closing and locking the door behind him. He had a feeling he would probably need some time with Komui, and he would definitely need it alone. He walked toward the desk slowly and saw that the Supervisor was in a familiar position, sitting behind it with his head resting on it.

For a moment Reever wasn't sure if he was asleep or dead or something else altogether.

"Supervisor?" He reached out and touched Komui's shoulder.

"...nnn?"

Not dead, apparently, just... lethargic. Komui's head turned, and he blinked at Reever for a second with a rather blank expression, bare-faced. (His glasses appeared to be sitting neatly folded up next to the outbox.)

"...Reever. Hi."

Something that might have been called soft surfaced in Komui's gaze as it drifted lower.

"How's the arm?" he asked quietly.

Reever felt a stab of anxiety in his chest and winced slightly. It was unsettling, terrifying almost, to see the Supervisor so lethargic when he was usually the most energetic member of their team. He actually hadn't felt this anxious since he thought Peter was dead, since he heard Linali tried to kill herself, since he realized his sisters hadn't called him in weeks.

"Better," he answered just as quietly, "all better. Sore if I work it too hard, but the medics say that'll go away. I don't need the sling anymore. I'm okay."

A moment's pause. Reever gave Komui's shoulder a tight squeeze.

"...you're not."

Komui shook his head slightly.

"I'm fine. Just needed to... rest little bit." His gaze turned toward the inbox on his desk. "I can probably get through that pile today. Start looking over inventory orders or something."

Reever's firm grip on his shoulder felt... rather a comfort, though, all the same.

"No," Reever ordered rather firmly with a slight shake of his head. "There will be no working today. Didn't you know? It's a holiday. It's called 'You're-going-to-make-your-sister-cry-if-you-don't-listen-to-Reever-mas'." That said, he plucked Komui's beret off the desk and placed it on it's owner's head.

"Come on, get your coat. We're going to go get everything that has no nutritional value out of Jerry's kitchen and eat it in one sitting, so we should go before I start coming to my senses." Reever was speaking as lightly as he could manage, but the grip he had on Komui's shoulder betrayed the fact that he was honestly worried that the Supervisor was going to work himself to death if they let him.

Komui stared up at Reever for a second before his face broke into a small, tired grin.

"...Officer. Did you just tell me not to do my work?"

He shifted a little bit in his spot, arms moving to curl up under his head.

"Probably shouldn't go in there, though, I'll just make another scene," he mumbled, gaze focused on the wood grain of the desk.

"I did. Clearly the world is going to end today so we might as well enjoy it," Reever commented back dryly as he placed his other hand on Komui's other shoulder and gently but rather insistently pulled the Supervisor back into an upright sitting position. "If anyone tries to start anything, I'll pull out my dreaded Aussie accent and see if they can still keep a straight face, okay?"

Komui didn't seem to notice the attempt at humor; he leaned his elbows against the desk for a moment before reaching for his glasses, unfolding one of the temples and idly twirling it back and forth between two fingers. It was utterly quiet in the office for a long, awkward moment.

"It wouldn't have happened if I'd been more responsible," Komui said quietly.

"You get a lot of papers to sign every day, Supervisor," Reever sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's easy to miss something. It's _human_ to miss something. Anyone could have easily made the same mistake." He paused a moment, then reached over and placed his hand on the side of Komui's face, just under his jaw, turning the Supervisor's head to meet his eyes.

"This isn't your fault."

Komui took a deep breath, and glanced away from the other man, running a tired hand over his eyes.

"I oversee the entire castle. Everything is eventually my fault," he muttered, sliding his glasses back on. Not too long afterward, he rose from his seat, Reever's hands slipping off him as he walked over to where his jacket had been tossed on the floor next to the desk. He pulled off his beret, running a perfunctory hand through slightly drooping hair, and replaced the hat at its proper jaunty angle (he didn't even need a mirror after all this time) before bending down to retrieve his coat.

"...I guess a cup of coffee doesn't sound too bad," he murmured, pulling a sleeve up one arm.

Reever considered disputing Komui's need to have any sort of caffeine in his system but decided against it. Progress was progress, after all. No point in being picky about it.

"Good to hear," he smiled, following after, mentally noting to pick up something from the infirmary to slip into the dinner he could foresee himself inevitably forcing Komui to eat later in the day. Because if Komui wasn't going to get a good night's rest all on his own, Reever really didn't have much of a choice but to take things into his own hands.

Somehow -- Komui didn't know how, and decided to consider it a gift from God and be appropriately grateful; he wasn't sure he could even have faced Linali in a state like this -- they made it down to the kitchen without running into anyone they would have been obliged to stop and talk to. Passing the cafeteria doors by entirely, the Supervisor fumbled for the ring of keys in his pocket as he headed to the delivery room off to the side. It was the only way into the kitchen that didn't pass through the main cafeteria area first, and you could only get in if you had the right key. Luckily, Komui had a key for everything. He stepped back after he'd unlocked the door for Reever to go first, stuffing the ring back in his coat pocket and pushing up his glasses a bit, and tried not to fidget.

"Who's that coming through my back door?" a familiar voice sang out, the silhouette of a rather built man wagging a long pair of cooking chopsticks turning to face them. "Only one handsome man besides the delivery boy does! It must be my Komui-tan!" Jerry dropped the chopsticks onto the counter and flounced over, throwing his arms around Komui.

"It's been so long, Komui-tan! I keep making extra food for you and no one eats it so then I eat it and I'm losing my girlish figure!" he sniffed loudly against Komui's shoulder, lifting his head briefly to dramatically blow his nose.

"How are you? I've been worried! Tell me what's happened! Tell me everything! You know you can tell your Jerry-pon anything at all, right?"

"Oh, I've just been busy, you know..." Komui smiled -- well, he couldn't help but smile, it was Jerry -- and stretched his own arms loosely around the other man. "Figured it would... be a little awkward down here..." he added apologetically.

"Clearly I've been horribly lax letting your food go to waste, though," he murmured with tired humor. He was smiling, at least, but he wasn't particularly himself. "I'll have to make it up to you."

The way Komui answered him made Jerry bite down on his lower lip in frustration, stepping back to wring his apron with his hands. Something was horribly, horribly wrong with his Komui-tan! He was so lethargic, so sad! So melancholy! It was depressing and not at all like the Komui he knew! Something had to be done, obviously, and if even Head Officer Reever and Linali had failed to cheer him up, what was left...? Inspiration struck Jerry. What made _everything_ better? Alcohol, clearly! It was best left out of some people's hands, but surely a good drink was all that was needed to boost Komui's mood!

"Um, Jerry?" Reever interrupted politely. He was such a sweet boy, really. "We came down to get the Supervisor some coffee. Do you think you could...?"

"Perfect!" Jerry exclaimed, clapping his hands together. Reever gave him a strange look. Oops, had he said that out loud? He had to stop doing that... "Oh! Perfect choice, Komui-tan!" he amended quickly, smiling his pearly white smile. "My coffee is the best in the world! Next to Linali's, of course."

The best for mixing alcohol with, that was. He had the _perfect_ dark-roast brew that had a certain exotic bite to it that would compliment a cream liqueur like a dream. If he mixed it just right, Komui might not even notice that his coffee was spiked until it was too late! Because honestly, Reever was such a sweet, good boy but he was a little _too_ good. He and Jerry shared a conflict of interests as far as their stances on the usefulness of alcohol went. Reever really disapproved of smoking and drinking, the little angel. Ah, well, this would work out just fine.

"I'll be right back with it, Komui-tan!"

"...that was fast," Komui blinked. Not that he'd really been expecting anything, but if asked, he would have ventured a guess at being mothered a little more and possibly forced into eating actual food. Jerry was a dear like that. At the moment, though... well, intellectually he knew he couldn't really afford to stay holed up by himself forever, but he couldn't help feeling traitorously glad of the idea that he could just get his coffee and leave.

It was good to see the place hadn't fallen apart while he'd been working through his backlog, though. Not that he'd really expected it to. For all that he was supposed to be the mostly-final (unless the Head Generals overrode him) authority over all the daily workings of Headquarters, the fact was that the place pretty much ran itself. There was a reason he could shirk so much paperwork for so long and get away with it, after all; and that was that two-thirds of what he did was no more than rubber-stamping other people's decisions. In a lot of ways he felt he'd done better as a Science Officer -- at least there he'd actually had something to contribute. Some days he really wondered what those senile old men had been thinking when they decided he was good leader material.

Most days Reever wondered too, but deep down he knew that both he and the rest of the Science Department knew exactly what the Head Generals saw in him.

And, well, if Reever wasn't suspicious before Jerry left, he was _definitely_suspicious when the cook returned with an _extremely_ tall, overly decorated cup of coffee that looked like it was being served in an extremely large soup mug more than a cup.

"Uh, Jerry...? I don't think the Supervisor needs _that_ much coffee--"

"Yes, yes in fact I do..." Komui's eyes were positively _sparkly. _He looked a lot more like his usual self as he made grabby motions toward the cup. "Oh, Jerry-pon... My looove…" he crooned (the latter statement being plainly directed not at Jerry but at the coffee).

Reever sighed deeply in defeat and pressed his palm against the side of his face. Well, that was that, really. There was only so much you could do for a man who didn't want to be helped. It should be okay, anyway. It wasn't like coffee was a foreign substance to the Supervisor's body or anything. And at least Komui looked happy again.

"We'll get out of your hair then, Jerry," he nodded instead, offering the cook a slightly weary smile. "Thanks again, for everything." Then he turned to Komui and patted him on the back, waiting for him to fully secure the coveted coffee before nudging him toward the door.

"Let's go somewhere quiet and relax a bit, okay, Supervisor?" Reever offered as they left. "How's your room sound?" For a moment, Reever almost offered his own room. Then he remembered that his room was a wreck still because he didn't actually _live_ in it. It was probably collecting a second layer of dust by now, and because Reever never had any visitors there were various belongings of an extremely personal nature that were strewn about the floor. Ah, well. Reever spent a lot of time in the landfill that was the Supervisor's office. He could handle any surprises Komui's room might bring.

Jerry watched them go with a torn but altogether fond expression. Damn, if he'd known they were headed for Komui-tan's room, he would have spiked the Supervisor's mug with more than just alcohol.

Luckily, the ornate coffee mug was the type with its own lid, because Komui's room was up two flights of stairs. They headed to the residential section of the building and walked up, up, up to the first room on the first men's floor, one of the most spacious in the castle, the Supervisor's appointed room; neither of Komui's hands were free to unlock his own door, however, so rather than risk spilling coffee from the very large mug, he wiggled his hips in Reever's general direction to make the keys jingle.

"Could you do the honors?" Komui requested, still subdued, but sounding significantly improved as he took a long sip of the coffee. Hm, not his usual -- must be some exotic specialty concoction of Jerry's...

Rather hoping no one would walk by, mostly so he wouldn't have to witness their complete lack of need to do a double-take at the sight of him reaching into Komui's pockets and fumbling around, Reever rummaged for the keys in Komui's coat. He'd noticed it the last time Komui had asked him to fish for something out of one of his pockets. A couple of Finders had walked by and hadn't even batted an eyelash, greeting them as though it _didn't_ look like Reever's hand was down the front of Komui's pants. Apparently it fell into the rather absurd realm of behavior considered normal for the two of them. Clearly Reever had been at this job too long.

Still, the keys were found without incident and Reever let them in, flicking on the lights to find...

...a perfectly normal bedroom.

Oh, sure, there were a few stray pieces of clothing hanging out of the wardrobe at all angles, a couple thrown over the chair. The bed wasn't made, and the desk was covered with notes and notebooks and drawings and blueprints and pens and ink and... it was a little messy. The large world map hung on one wall looked like it could use a little dusting, as did the long window on the far side of the wall; the little table underneath it was mostly covered in books, as was the overstuffed chair sitting _next_to the table... but the floor was clean, and there were no secret candle-strewn shrines to Linali (so Reever chose to assume, not having looked in the closet yet) and no rampaging giant robots and... overall, it was just an average well-lived-in bedroom.

Komui wandered over to the desk, pulled out the chair with one leg, and then proceeded to plop down on his bed and sip some more coffee.

"Have a seat if you want," he murmured.

Reever took the offered chair, still craning his head around this way and that. It surprised him to think that in the nine years he had known the Supervisor, he had never even glimpsed the inside of his dorm. He had never expected it to look like this, but... he was beginning to realize that there was a lot to the Supervisor he only knew the surface of. It prompted him to wonder what Komui had been like back in China, back before the war found him. He had been... seventeen then, hadn't he? Reever had left home at fifteen himself. It seemed like lifetimes ago, and he didn't really think his life had been nearly as unforgiving as Komui's.

"...feeling better?" he inquired gently after a stretch of silence passed. He really couldn't think of anything else to say, as his mind was filled with thoughts too sensitive to mention, especially with Komui's current state of mind.

"Mm... guess so," Komui allowed, shrugging a little and brushing a stray strand of hair behind one ear as he continued nursing his coffee. He didn't look up at Reever. "Suppose I'd about used up my allotment of hermit time for the month anyway," he decided with a sigh, kicking off his shoes.

"Um... thanks for coming in there," he murmured after a moment had passed, taking another long sip of coffee before lowering the cup to rest in his lap.

"...You're a good guy."

Reever felt a little warm right around his collar at that and looked rather embarrassed as he tugged at his lab coat, managing a little shrug at the end of it all. He usually thought of it as his job, really, to keep tabs on and look after the Supervisor, but he knew that he didn't really _have_ to do any of it. It was simply a natural progression of events.

When he first enlisted at sixteen, he had just lost his sisters. Linali had been five then, five years old and very, very far from home. She was alone and she was scared. She was just between the ages of Marleen and Gabby, and that made Reever feel as though if he took care of Linali, in a way he could make it up to his own sisters for not being there. That was the beginning.

A year of listening to very little except glowing praise about an older brother that Linali had once had back home, of learning Chinese by the seat of his pants, and of drying a little girl's tears of missing a brother nothing else in the world could replace later, Reever finally met Komui. It was really quite hard for Reever to recall his first impression of the other man, perhaps purely because of the sheer contrast of that image to the man Reever had come to know. But really, for those first few days, Komui had been everything Linali had described. Made Reever feel a little insufficient, actually.

It was a little fuzzy now, but Reever could have sworn he'd started following Komui around because he rather admired the man. Odd to think of how far they'd come in the exact opposite direction. But really, Reever wouldn't say he did all this for Komui because he was a good guy. It was just how their lives had worked out. And so he scratched his neck and shrugged again, shaking his head.

"It's... I don't mind doing it," he finally settled on with a faint little smile. "Being a fellow member of the human race and all, you'd think that doing things you don't mind to make the people around you happier would be a membership requirement, wouldn't you?"

"...Uh, you'd think." Komui gave him a slightly awkward smile in response. He guessed he shouldn't really be surprised by getting a weird answer like that -- though they worked together very well and they at least had their love of Linali in common, Komui had always sort of gotten the impression that Reever didn't really care for him. (He really couldn't blame the guy, though, considering the number of things Komui did on a daily basis to irritate him. Occasionally said efforts were even intentional.) Did even something like this fall under the purview of his job, or philanthropy to a fellow human being? Did getting his shoulder dislocated on Komui's behalf?

Komui found he wasn't sure exactly what to think.

"Shame it doesn't work that way more often," he murmured, taking another sip of coffee. Despite the downturn in the conversation, he found he really was starting to feel a little better. Kind of... mellowed out, less tense. At this rate, maybe he could even manage to get some sleep later.

Reever's smiley face really looked kind of adorable, he decided on at random.

Reever hadn't really meant it in a 'I didn't do this for you, I did this because I'm a decent human being' sort of way, not at all. It was just that he had put himself into a remorsefully wistful sort of mood and it had briefly struck him as profoundly sad that making sure your friend and commanding officer didn't work himself to death was enough to be considered a good person, even in these times.

Actually, especially in these times.

"It's the truth," Reever agreed quietly with a slow shake of his head. The smile slowly slipped away and Reever found himself frowning at Komui the slightest bit, as though trying to decide if there was something strange about the Supervisor's expression. Though, considering Komui's mood and actions as of late, it was hard to tell what to consider 'strange'.

"And, to be perfectly honest," he continued with a sigh, briefly glancing over at the wall, "it's a little too quiet around here when you're locked up in your office. It felt like a real research lab for once." He paused to shake his head, offering Komui another smile.

"We both know nothing ever gets done in a real research lab, right? That morgue-like atmosphere tends to kill creativity."

Komui cracked a real smile at that, flopping on his side a little against the bed's headboard and sipping more coffee. Now that he thought about it... this was a _really_odd coffee flavor...

"Also the truth," he agreed with a sage nod. "A real laboratory needs either constant chaos or loudly sung off-key folk songs. Both doesn't hurt."

"Uh... what?" Reever blinked, not quite following Komui's non-logic. He was frowning again. "Supervisor...? Is everything okay?" He didn't quite _sound_ okay. In fact, he sounded a little... Reever couldn't quite put his finger on it...

"Well, that was the only form of chaos I could get away with back home," Komui added with a slightly goofy smile. "I'll say one thing for the Order, they're really, _really not _Chinese. ... Except the East Asian branch. Y'know." He took another gulp of coffee.

Now Reever _really_ wasn't following. He had to think a moment on it before it even began to make sense, but then it contradicted itself but if you assumed it didn't then--

"Supervisor, are you..." Reever's eyes widened, "..._drunk?_"

Komui blinked at the other man blankly for a second. Then he glanced down at his mug of coffee.

"Well, that _would_explain the _very_exocit... exotic flavor of this coffee blend," he mused, raising an eyebrow.

"Your coffee is _spiked?_" Reever gaped, planting his forehead firmly into his palm. "Why would Jerry spike your coffee? And lock us in the storage closet for that matter? And... just.. has everyone in the Order gone _mad?_ I've been locked in a closet for an afternoon, sent out to town to buy something that doesn't exist, had my arm dislocated, and now the head cook is apparently trying to get my supervisor drunk--"

"He probably just wanted to make me feel better," Komui said happily.

"--What's wrong with everyone? Am I just _missing_ something?" Reever paused a second to stare at Komui before sputtering out, "Wasn't the _coffee_ supposed to make you feel better? The alcohol is making you... you..." Instead of words, Reever only managed to make some sort of vaguely violent gesture in midair, something like a twisting, strangling, snapping motion. There really simply weren't words to articulate Reever's disapproval for alcohol.

"Drunk?" Komui supplied helpfully. Reever's reply to this insightful statement consisted of a few strangled noises.

"Really, though," the Supervisor continued, holding up a finger, "I know you don't approve of this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to abstain. And anyway, drunkenness is just a series of... chemical..." His brain didn't want to translate science terms into English at the moment, so he gave up. "...Thing...s. Which will run their course eventually and be out of my system. Like food. Or caffeine. Or. Anything really.

"Besides, this all seems much funnier now," he decided as he said the words, smiling at Reever again.

"...you're not upset that Jerry _spiked_ your coffee?" Reever groaned, then gave up altogether. "_I really don't have any methods with you._" He muttered the last bit in Chinese, though what he had _meant_to say was that he didn't know how to get through to Komui and thus was going to give up before he drove himself insane. He still didn't quite have figures of speech down yet.

"At--... You-- I--" Reever finally gave up and shook his head, massaging a temple with one hand.

"...as long as it makes you happy, Supervisor."

Komui laughed a little under his breath, and gave Reever a rather soft smile.

Maybe... Linali was right about this, after all.

"_You really are a good human being. And your accent is so cute,_"he said, with only the slightest hint of a teasing smirk.

"..._stop it_," Reever sniffed, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand at the blush he was pretty sure was there. Being teased about his accent usually made his face red in some respect or another. Sometimes he flushed with anger, but this time he was definitely pink from embarrassment. Still, he was smiling a slightly indignant half-smile, because it was a nice sort of embarrassment. But he really wished the Supervisor would stop complimenting him. He still didn't feel as though he'd done anything to deserve it. (Except maybe the getting his arm dislocated for him. But other than that.)

"_My accent is not cute. It is big and scary and... and... Australian._"

Komui just grinned at him. "_Nope. Cute. Not like kittens. But cute. Also the way you're all flushed like that... and the rubbing your face and looking embarrassed and also your hair and the way you're sitting..._"He blinked at Reever, taking another long swig of coffee. "_I guess you're just generally adorable, Officer,_"he realized.

"You're just really drunk right now, Superviso--" Halfway through the sentence, the last bit of what Komui said fully registered and Reever froze. All that sounded an awful lot like... what? Flirting? He hadn't previously been aware that Komui was _capable_ of flirting. The closest thing Reever had ever witnessed was Komui sobbing into Linali's hip, begging her not to get married. So was that it? It was probably just the alcohol talking, right? Because, really, Reever wasn't sure his brain or his heart valves could take it otherwise. Not that it would be _bad_ if the Supervisor was flirting with him or something because, well, the Supervisor was admittedly very attractive and not at all a bad sort of guy -- oh God, had he just actually thought that? Well, that was, the Supervisor, he, well, he was someone Reever did actually look up to and one of Reever's only friends and... where was he going with this thought? Was the Supervisor even flirting with him? It was probably just Reever's ill-used imagination and the alcohol running amok, right? So there was nothing to think about, right?

"_Adorable?_" he finally squeaked in Chinese, because he didn't really have the presence of mind to try to translate that into English.

"_...Um. Yes?_"Komui tilted his head to one side and looked rather confused.

"_Well, I mean, you're also very manly, of course, not that I think you're cute like a girl or something,_"he added after a second with a momentary pout. "_Linali always says _I'm_cute like a girl... but you are definitely the guy kind of cute,_"he concluded with a sage nod, sipping some more of the spiked coffee. "_But, don't you ever look in a mirror? You _completely_knew that, right?_" the Supervisor rambled, substituting some English into his Chinese without much thought.

"S...Supervisor," Reever stammered, blinking rapidly, "you're not making a lot of sense. I..." His knee-jerk reaction was to find a mirror to stare at, but he _really_ didn't think he'd changed at all since he washed his hands after using the bathroom that morning. He had grown fairly used to thinking of himself as 'that slightly scruffy Aussie' and figured everyone else shared his sentiments. He hadn't worried about looking cute or attractive or whatever since the girlfriend he'd had in school. He scratched his chin again, this time a little self-consciously.

"You think I'm... _kě ài_, was it?" he asked, repeating the Chinese term Komui had used for 'cute'.

"_Yes! Very. Also very. Um. ... Wait._"

Komui frowned up at the ceiling.

"_Also very, uh... _hot? I've been in England too long," he lamented, switching back to English abruptly as he took a gulp of coffee. "I need to speak Chinese with Linali more..."

To that, Reever's first response was to make a face that said something along the lines of, 'Oh, God, I hope _no_ conversation between you and Linali involve the word 'hot' in _that_ context unless she's talking about Deisha or some other nice Exorcist boy.' Then he stopped, blinked, and did a mental double-take.

Hot in _that_ context?

"Uh... you... you find me... uh, _hot?_" he asked in bewilderment, tugging nervously at his collar once more. "How drunk _are_ you, Supervisor...?"

"...A little?" Komui blinked again, rather owlishly. "Some? I haven't drunk very much ever since I became a... well, not really a priest but you know, we're all Catholic and stuff..."

He paused as he glanced up at River again, looking vaguely surprised.

"Sure though, you're... _shuài? _No, that's not..." He frowned at himself, taking another sip of coffee. "Anyway, I dunno why you don't have a girlfriend and a boyfriend... um... and... _or,_I mean. Not the... you know. Wait, yes I do, it's because you never come out of your office 'cept to chase me." Komui frowned at the other man disapprovingly for a second before glancing away thoughtfully.

"...Huh. It's like. I take you on field trips. See, it's for your own good, too," he concluded incoherently, beaming.

"_Shuāi_?" Reever repeated with a blink, accidentally saying the word for 'fall' rather than 'handsome'. It took him a moment to remember that it also meant the other thing. Then he shook his head and tried once again to make sense of what Komui was getting at without success.

"Are you saying I need a girlfriend and a--... _or_ a boyfriend? I'm not getting you right, Supervisor," Reever managed with a slightly troubled frown.

"I'm saying that you're hot and _completely_date-able and you should have a social life besides tracking down me and also do other stuff," Komui said, nodding sagely at his own words. He frowned right back over at Reever. "Don't you have any hobbies?"

"I don't see you having a social life either, Supervisor," Reever pointed out, wondering how this was possibly an area of concern after nearly a decade of living this way. "And I find you're much more attractive than my scruffy Aussie self and by those standards completely date-able as well, so... it just comes with the job, doesn't it?"

"Huh." Komui looked at Reever with mild surprise as his head tilted over to nearly a ninety-degree angle. "Linali was right."

"Linali was--huh? Right about what?" Reever was beginning to wonder which of them was tipsy because he felt a lot slower than usual.

"Well, I guess it logically follows that we should date each other," Komui explained, blinking.

"Wait,_what_?" What Komui just said simply wouldn't process immediately. "Are you trying to say you want to date me, or that you and Linali have somehow scientifically deducted that we're compatible, or just that we'd save a lot of time if we set up house together?" Reever couldn't help the disbelief in his voice. It all felt so ridiculous.

"Um... possibly the first one?" Komui blinked again. Then frowned slightly, looking vaguely disapproving.

"This really doesn't seem like the time for that though, Reever. I mean, I'm kind of drunk."

"No, I mean yes, I mean-- No, this doesn't seem like the time, yes you're kind of drunk-- Wait, you want to date me?" Reever's face looked as though someone might as well have just told him that the Millennium Earl was his mother. "Like, is this a 'this sounds really good while I'm drunk' thing...?"

"I don't think so but... I'll get back to you when I'm _not_drunk?" Komui offered happily, upturning his mug to finish the last of the coffee. The alcohol taste was more easily detectable at the very bottom.

"That's it, now we just have to count the hours," he mused, mumbling to himself as he proceeded to attempt complex mathematics on his fingers. "Let's see... My weight divided by the number of ounces and the factor of... um... never mind, it'll be a few hours," he concluded, stretching over to slide the mug onto his desk without leaving his spot on the bed (he nearly managed to miss). His hat flopped onto the desktop beside it, his jacket came off after some very intent drunken tugging, and for a second Komui sat there on the bed and bit back a yawn.

"...right, then. You sleep this off, Supervisor," Reever sighed as he stood and walked over to the bed to pull Komui's covers over him after witnessing his third failed attempt. "I'll be back in a couple hours, okay?"

"Sure. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Komui said smilingly, curling up under the blankets as he let his eyes drift closed.

"That shouldn't be hard," Reever managed mildly, smiling as well despite his confusion at what had all just happened. When all was said and done, the Supervisor was still the Supervisor. That was enough for Reever to smile.

He quietly let himself out and wandered down the hall, trying to decide what to do with himself for the next few hours.

A nap and two trips to the kitchen later, one to scold Jerry and the other to obtain some carry-out dinner to help sober Komui up, Reever was heading back up to Komui's room. The sun was setting outside, as it was some time after six, nearing seven. He contemplated knocking on the door and decided that was the polite thing to do, as they were still supervisor and subordinate despite their puzzling earlier conversation.

"Supervisor Komui?" he called as he rapped lightly on the door. "Are you awake again yet?"

"Umm... I am now?" Komui's slightly groggy voice answered from the other side. "Come in, it shouldn't be locked..."

As Reever entered the room, Komui was just kicking off his sheets, sitting up to grimace slightly and massage his temples. He rose to plod over into the adjoining bathroom for a moment and returned with some aspirin and a very large mug full of water, both of which he proceeded to make good use of.

"I think I drank that coffee too fast," he lamented with a bit of the characteristic pout, plopping back onto the edge of his bed. Despite his disheveled hair and clothes, the Supervisor looked remarkably improved over a few hours before. "How are you?"

"You mean the alcohol," Reever corrected dryly with a shake of his head. He closed the door behind him and walked toward Komui, holding up his bag of carry-out dinner.

"I brought dinner. Stuff you like, or so Jerry assures me," he offered. He was still considering the last question. He was still confused, mostly. A little bit curious. Somewhat greatly nervous. The last bit he wasn't sure why, but he imagined it had something to do with why staring at Komui directly right now was enough to make the back of his neck feel warm. Still, everything seemed so normal again he wasn't sure whether or not he should bring their drunken conversation up.

"Ooh, food! Thank you! And it was too coffee," Komui pouted, "it just had alcohol _in_it. That doesn't make it not coffee."

He didn't seem in the mood to argue the point, however; after a second he clapped his hands together and peered curiously toward the bag. "So what did Jerry send up? Are you going to eat with me?"

"I guess I can stay," Reever nodded, handing off the bag. "The boys won't let me back into the lab at all until tomorrow. They still don't believe me when I say my arm's better." He shrugged a little at that. "I can't say I mind the break. And you'll have to tell me what's in the bag, Supervisor. Jerry rattled it all off to me but I don't think I can pronounce half this stuff."

"Ooooh!" Komui seemed excited now. "Let's see..." He cleared off some space on his desk (which procedure consisted of swiping a bunch of papers and notebooks off the side so that they clambered down onto the floor together in a messy, haphazard pile), set down the bag, and began to unpack it.

"Oh! Oh my! Lion's Head Casserole! Stuffed soup buns! Roasted duck! Bā bǎo fàn!" he announced for Reever's benefit as each dish made its way out of the bag. "Wah--! Jerry-pon is really spoiling me today!"

The most Reever could understand of that was 'roasted duck'. Everything else he had to take on faith that it was edible. Still, he found himself making mental note that these were foods Komui liked, in the event he had to lure the Supervisor into or out of somewhere. He still didn't really know what to do or say and so busied himself with grimacing at the pile of stuff that had just spawned into existence on Komui's floor. At least the Supervisor was more like his usual self again.

Komui had all the food laid out in short order and, after a perfunctory explanation of what each food contained, dug right in and left Reever to pick out what he would. The longer they sat there together, however, the more painfully obvious it began to become when Reever would respond to every one of Komui's attempts at conversation with embarrassed silence or, at best, one-syllable words. The Supervisor frowned at Reever over the remains of his plate of duck, seated once again in his spot atop the bed.

"Reever? You're really, really quiet."

"Huh?" Reever asked in return, sounding startled. "Am I?"

"Yes, you are," Komui said with a frown. "Why?" He had a terrible sinking sensation that he already knew, but he wasn't going to be the first to bring it up if he could avoid it.

"I--..." Reever's gaze abruptly dropped into his lap. "...it's nothing."

Shit. Komui's genius analytical powers informed him that his terrible sinking sensation was clearly right on the mark.

Shiiiiiit.

"Er... Are you sure?" he tried one last time, mentally crossing his fingers.

"Mmhm," Reever nodded, chewing on the end of a duck bone distractedly, now staring at a line in the floor. He had been trying so hard this entire time not to think about the slightly awkward conversation they'd had before. He had failed almost the entire time and the more Komui talked to him the worse he failed. Surely if Komui hadn't brought it up by now he must not have meant any of it, right?

Komui frowned as he glanced away, ever so slightly flushed.

"You are absolutely no help at all."

He set the plate down on the bed next to him and proceeded to fidget with his shirt sleeves.

"You're supposed to say... hey Komui, are you going to answer that question from earlier... so I don't have to be the one to bring this up, so I don't have to be even _more_embarrassed." The color in his cheeks was unabated.

Reever blushed faintly to match Komui and gingerly set down the duck to rub at his cheeks once again, coughing lightly. He still couldn't quite manage to meet Komui's eyes.

"It's okay, Supervisor, I mean... you don't have to be embarrassed or make a big deal about it, I..." he swallowed, shaking his head, trying to find the words to say next. He had to wet his lips before he could continue.

"...it's not really that important."

"Ass. Of course it's important."

Komui scowled, gaze trained toward the floor as he pulled his legs up loosely to his chest, leaning an elbow against one and his chin against a waiting hand. His face appeared to be growing redder by the second.

"I would never, ever say something like that... if I didn't... _mean_it, you know," he somehow managed to spit out in a mutter, frowning very unhappily at the floor tiles next to his bed.

"_Huh?_" At that, Reever's wide-eyed gaze snapped up to meet Komui's and all at once the Australian's face was also an impressive shade of red. "B-b-but you were... _drunk_ and you've been having a rough time and you haven't... slept a lot and you're overworked so... I mean... I don't know what I mean. What do _you_ mean?"

In the face of that eye-piercing, disbelieving stare, Komui's courage deserted him entirely. What _did_he mean? Clearly this was the absolute worst possible way to go about this. Date Reever? What had Linali been thinking? What had _he_been thinking earlier? There was no possible way this harebrained idea could work out. For one, Reever didn't even _like_him that much.

...Maybe. Sort of. Possibly. He didn't know.

But, he realized now, and here was the rub of it... he actually did like Reever.

Komui took a deep breath. "I mean... I mean that I'm sorry I pestered you and we can forget all about it if you want, I _was_drunk," he mumbled, face still bright red as he reached for his water.

"You..." Reever scratched lightly at the top of his head as he tried to read between the lines of what Komui had just said. The tone of voice, the choice of words, the tomato color Komui's cheeks had turned... it all suggested that the Supervisor was... was what? Serious about wanting to date him? Reever had never imagined, never even humored the thought that Komui would ever actually be interested in him in a romantic sense. Or even in a close platonic sense. Or anyone else in a romantic sense. Because honestly, nine times out of ten Reever was serious when he thought about the love of Komui's life being his sister. He didn't really know what to think of this. Or say. It'd been so long since he'd even been able to consider having a relationship with someone... God, did he even still_have_ a romantic side under all the dust and cobwebs anymore?

"...you actually want to date me? You're not trying to get me to be your boyfriend so you can withhold sex to keep me off your case about work, are you?"

...obviously not. Reever frowned at the words that just came out of his mouth.

Komui stared at him for a second over the rim of the mug before he started laughing, nearly choking on his water.

"...Um. I'm not," he said when he could manage, smiling with what looked like relief as much as anything as he set the cup back down. That was... not exactly the sort of reaction he'd been suspecting.

"You sure about that?" Reever asked skeptically, glad he had managed to get Komui to laugh rather than sit there looking awkward. "So you're not serious about dating me, then?"

"Is that the only reason I could possibly want to date you?" Komui returned with another easy laugh, and then realized what had just come out of his mouth and turned bright red again.

This was all... so... _blunt. _Wasn't there any way to arrange these things without... _talking_about them? Music perhaps? Sign language? Grunts? Interpretive dance?

"...I realize this is a really stupid idea, so don't worry about it, all right?" he said after a moment, with an uneasy smile. "I wouldn't have brought it up if I hadn't... um... Brought it up. Unintentionally. Earlier."

"Stupid? How is it stupid?" Reever blinked, rubbing at his cheeks again. He couldn't tell if the blushing was going away but he at least _felt_ calmer. "It's not stupid, Su... er... Komui. At least, I don't think so. I mean... I won't force you to talk about it if you want to drop it but I'm still a little confused. What prompted all this? Just the alcohol? I never really... thought you had much of an opinion of me."

"Um... well." Komui was fairly squirming in his seat with discomfort at this point, face still uncomfortably warm. Glancing away, he scratched his nose and gave his answer some thought. Obviously, any explanation beginning with _Well, Linali thinks I need to date someone and you were the best person she and I could both settle on and then __**afterwards**__I sort of... _was right out, so he went with the next most plausible idea. It was_sort_of true, at least...

"I know you're not my biggest fan," he stated, scratching his head with a very sheepish expression, "which I can't really blame you for, all things considered." Even if Reever might have given him reason to think differently lately, he hadn't disproven his original hypothesis yet. It would be terribly unscientific to just skip to the next one without conducting any experimentation.

"You make me work for my salary," Reever shrugged with a rather fond sort of smile as he shook his head, "but I do respect you, you know. ... Don't let it go to your head or anything, but about nine years back, I probably was your biggest fan. Well, no. I probably would have had to fight Linali for it and I probably would have lost."

"Really...?" Komui blinked at him for a second, looking honestly surprised. Then his face broke into a warm smile as he sat back in his spot on the bed, the mere mention of Linali seeming to relax him a little more.

"Terribly sorry, Reever, but I think you're right about that. Of course," he declared, raising a finger in the air with an air of importance that was mostly ruined by the soft smile still playing around his lips, "you'd still have been entirely welcome to be fan number two."

"I took up residency as your surrogate shadow," Reever shrugged with a little laugh, "but maybe you were so busy you didn't notice." He paused a moment as he remembered what they had been talking about before taking this side trip down memory lane and he glanced at Komui a little sheepishly. He didn't want to be pushy but... really, he was a scientist himself. Curiosity was in his blood.

"So, then...?"

"I don't know," Komui moaned, slapping a hand miserably against his face. Was Reever just going to sit here and interrogate him all night and not say anything_back? _"All this talking is going to give me an ulcer," he complained, sitting there and just looking at the other man for a very long moment, frowning. He could only think of one other thing to do.

"Come here," he said tersely, moving his plate off the bed and jabbing a finger at a spot next to him atop the sheets. "Sit."

"Huh?" Reever blinked in surprise, wondering what Komui was thinking. He hesitated only a moment himself before he obediently stood and moved over to the spot on the bed he had been commanded to sit on and settled himself down, giving his supervisor a slightly puzzled expression.

This was all in the name of an experimental hypothesis. This was all in the name of an experimental hypothesis. This was terribly, utterly important research. To. To discover. Stuff.

Komui kept telling himself that, and took a very very deep breath, climbed half into Reever's lap, and tugged him down by the collar and kissed him.

It had been a very long time. When he'd begun he'd simply been trying to prove a point, but Komui felt himself grow faintly warm as their lips locked together, as he became acutely aware of just how close his body was to Reever's body. It was...

Maybe Linali really had been right.

He pulled away still redfaced, but feeling perhaps less embarrassed than he had before, and perhaps a bit more sullen. He fidgeted with one edge of his sleeve idly.

"So are you going to do it, or not do it, or think about it, or... what are you going to do?" he asked, staring very intently at the floor.

"Um." Reever's mind felt like it'd just been kicked out of the back compartment of a moving train and was now running to catch up again. "Uh, I-- I..." It was almost too much to take in at once. Komui had just _kissed_ him. The object of almost everything that was currently wrong with his professional life had just crawled into his lap and kissed him and Reever didn't know what to do or think because... because.. because it was _Komui_. And this was the Black Order and there was a war and their lives were wrecked enough on a day to day basis without any more complication and these were all the things Reever was _supposed_ to be thinking but he _wasn't_because all he _could_ think about was how warm he was right around the collar and on second thought, he was warm everywhere else too, in his face and his hands and his stomach was doing forward handsprings or at least that's what it felt like and--

_He has the warmest-est eyes, Hé-ge ge._

Reever swallowed and glanced momentarily down at his lap.

_And when he holds you everything is nice and better and even if you just had the worstest nightmare, it doesn't matter._

He looked back up, but not quite at Komui's face.

_And sometimes he cries because even the most bravest big brothers cry, but if you give him even a little kiss he'll smile because he's okay as long you don't let him forget he's not alone. I hope he has someone to give him kisses in my place. Do you think he has someone, Hé-ge ge?_

Reever slipped both of his hands into Komui's and decided something without really coming to a decision at all, because it was something he'd known all along. It'd just gotten lost in the paperwork somewhere along the way. He tugged Komui forward and gave him another kiss, a soft and slightly scratchy one that was entirely his specialty.

Komui blinked at him as they pulled apart again, very wide-eyed indeed. "...Oh," he managed, breathlessly.

And then, sure enough, he smiled. And laughed a little awkwardly.

"...That went better than I was expecting."

"What were you expecting?" Reever smiled back, sounding the slightest bit breathless himself. "For me to hand you more paperwork and tell you better luck next time?" he teased. The entire situation was still a little bit awkward to him, but he was sure that was just the shock talking. And the treading into entirely unfamiliar territory bit too.

Komui gave another quiet laugh, and reached up to run a hand back through slightly disheveled hair. He really needed to get a shower later.

...God, it was almost impossible to imagine that he'd actually started the day staring at the walls of his office. He wasn't sure what it said about him that his emotions flip-flopped so easily... probably that he was a terribly unstable person who had no business being in a position of executive authority, but hey, what the Head Generals may-or-may-not have known wouldn't hurt them.

"No... I don't know... Just let me try to... stop holding my breath," he said, feeling exhausted all of a sudden as the tension began to ebb out of him. He leaned against Reever's shoulder unthinkingly for a second, blinked, considered moving, and glanced up at Reever with a slightly sheepish grin. "Um, am I allowed?"

"Hm?" Reever blinked in surprise, then grinned and wrapped his arm around Komui, nodding. "Sure. Nice change of pace from you running the opposite direction, Supervisor. Just, hm. Just tell me one thing before I get too comfortable." He managed to hold a straight, somewhat worried expression on his face for the entirety of his next sentence.

"I'm not going to wake up dead one morning with Linali's heel embedded in my spine, am I?"

Komui beamed at him.

"Only if you're mean to me."

He glanced away after a second with a pleased little sigh, the smile on his face dampening into a softer, contemplative one as his eyes traced the arm wrapped around his shoulders. This should be very... interesting. Sex he understood, but it wasn't like he'd ever had an _actual_ boyfriend before, or a girlfriend, for that matter.

"No, actually, uh..." His expression turned rather happily embarrassed again. "She's the one who's been saying, um... I should just get together with you."

"W.._what_?" Reever sputtered, looking as though his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. "She _what?_Little Linali? Little baby sister Linali wanted _us_ to... to..." There mere thought that such an idea would even occur to Linali made Reever wonder what exactly went on behind that innocent little smile of hers. As for Reever's end, he had the dubious experience of a high school girlfriend, but he really didn't see himself taking Komui to dances and to the shopping plaza and to stare at flowers for the better part of a perfectly good afternoon so he was fairly certain that none of that was going to help. And Reever was also quite ignorant about sex, as the few times he had managed to get into bed with someone it had been too awkward for Reever to bear to remember the following morning.

...he really was a geek through and through.

"...Uh. I think she's just been worried about me. For some reason." Komui smiled uncomfortably and scratched at his nose with one finger and tried not to think about her sobbing that she didn't want him to be all alone. Now, Komui wasn't an idiot. He knew, on one level, just how well his sister knew him, and that she knew exactly how to manipulate him. But he also knew that she was not a selfish girl and she did not make use of her influence lightly. The things she'd said to him -- she might not really have been as frantically worried as she'd seemed that day, but that didn't mean she didn't believe them.

...And besides, when his cute little sister was looking at him like that, pleading with him with tears streaming down her cheeks like the world was about to end, how could he _possibly_refuse her anything? Especially if it was just that she wanted him to be happy. That wasn't so hard. Generally, anyway.

"And I wouldn't be surprised if she's been worried about you too," he pouted over at Reever, "mister person who does _not_know how to have any fun."

"Hey, I know how to have fun," Reever mock-frowned, giving Komui a squeeze. "Sometimes I give you a pile of blank papers to sign to see if you notice and sometimes I convince Johnny to draw on you while you're sleeping. Sometimes I get to wake you up by telling you Linali's getting married. That's fun."

The pout grew several degrees in intensity. "That's cruel and unusual punishment, not fun," Komui said indignantly, giving Reever a poke in the chest. "I mean the kind of fun that involves actually being away from your desk occasionally. Everybody _else_in the Science Department takes breaks." The Supervisor smiled very prettily for a moment. "And you do realize that I will have every right to be upset if you don't take a break or three with _me_from now on, right?"

"Oh yes," Reever smiled back, going as far as to grin in a rather predatory fashion in response to Komui's innocent little smile. "And do _you_ realize that I'll have every right to deny you those breaks if you don't do your own work? It'll be so hard for me to find time to get away with you if I'm busy signing the papers you didn't." He could play this game, he decided. And he could definitely win. This strange turn of events was looking better by the minute.

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	4. Coming Home

_Catch-22_

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Why look, a small sliver of something resembling plot. XD; From here on out we're going to begin to move from fluff into seriousness at a pretty good clip, so be warned. I look forward to posting the next chapter…

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_Ch. 4. Coming Home_

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Before they knew it, an entire month had passed by on them, and things were working out better than Komui would ever have dared hope. Reever was a little concerned about what it would look like to be fraternizing with his boss, so they decided to keep things discreet; Komui, naturally, told Linali, and from the knowing, pleased looks Jerry gave the both of them it was clear that he too was in the loop, but so far as they knew, they'd elsewise managed to keep their new..._thing_under wraps. Sadly, Komui still hadn't managed to figure out the proper technique for using said _thing_ as leverage to skip work, but it certainly made the day-to-day drudgery of the Order more pleasant -- a stolen kiss or two when Reever delivered the day's share of documents to his Supervisor's office (Komui strictly demanded them as an apology for being the bearer of bad news, or in this case, bad paperwork); evenings spent in one or the other's room attempting to read reports or draw up plans or occasionally just snuggle (Komui had kept pestering the other man with requests to see Reever's room, and when finally allowed, took one look before heading off to find a feather duster); and, of course, sharing their bodies with each other. Neither of them had a great deal of experience with sexuality and, while Komui might at least have been acutely aware of where everything went -- it was like riding a bicycle; you never _really_forgot how to do it -- he felt an exhilarating sense of wonder and curiosity about exploring it with somebody he actually _liked_, learning and discovering together. All in all, he felt that for a beginning relationship in a place like the Order, it could hardly have been more idyllic.

Of course, things got a little hectic toward the end of that month, as one of their dispatched Finder squads managed to stumble across a phenomenon that couldn't be explained by anything less than Innocence. It was a town that appeared to rewind, reliving the same day over and over without its inhabitants being aware of it at all. It was extremely promising and everyone was optimistic.

There was only one catch.

No one could get in.

The Finders would try to walk in through the front entrance and find themselves walking right back out again, and Reever found himself locked up in Komui's office along with the rest of their research team and every single book that even remotely seemed to be relevant to the subject at hand, plowing through it all trying to make sense of things. Days went by where the only sleep any of them got was when they dozed off wherever the piles of books they happened to be studying were, until another pile of books became off balance and landed on them. It was perhaps day four or so of this when Johnny finally collapsed, his last words stumbling out of his mouth as he fell over on his pile of research notes.

"Let's just send more Innocence after the Innocence and go to sleep... Mommy, no school today..."

The rest of them exchanged a shared look of disbelief. It was such an obviously sleep-deprived, offhanded thing to say. It didn't have anything to do with any of the research they had done. They had nothing to support the claim and no way to test the theory.

Reever was digging up the list of off-duty Exorcists anyway.

It turned out that Linali and Allen were the only Exorcists not currently on a mission, which made both Reever and Komui exceptionally nervous. Because this was the mission that had kept them out of their beds for the better part of the week, because Allen was a rookie, because they were being sent very far away to investigate something none of them understood. But what choice did they have? And everyone was too exhausted to think of a legitimate reason not to send them.

Linali and Allen fell out of contact as soon as they entered the Rewinding Town, as expected, and so they all tried not to worry too much. For the most part, they just tried to get the mess in Komui's office under control again, get some sleep, replenish lost nutrients, and actually spend some time in the shower. Reever curled up in his bathtub for most of an afternoon trying to get his muscles to forgive him. He had to hunt down Komui after that to drag him to dinner.

And just as things were beginning to get back to normal even a little bit, the phone call came.

Komui was off tinkering in his lab and Reever was letting him because the Supervisor had a lot of stress to vent and needed the time off. Johnny was still rather incapacitated. Tapp was off shelving things with 65. That left Reever to take the call, which came just as he was about to go brush his hair and shave.

"Hello?" he groaned into the receiver, letting out a resigned sigh at the fact that God apparently had a problem with him being clean-shaven.

"This is Finder Tegan Walters, stationed with Exorcists Allen Walker and Linali Li."

Reever was all at once more awake and straightened, gripping the phone a little tighter.

"Yeah?"

"I have an update on the status of the mission. The Innocence has been found and secured, as well as the person it reacted to. Both are on their way to the Order."

"Good to hear. And, uh, Allen and Linali?"

"Both were critically wounded. Miranda -- the one who the Innocence reacted to -- claims that they fought a human girl. I'm calling to request medical backup."

Reever's grip tightened further.

"C-critically wounded? How bad? What happened? Are they stable?"

"Both are stable and in no immediate danger but..."

"What is it?" This was hissed out rather threateningly, though Reever hadn't meant to. It was just hard to hold back.

"Miss Linali hasn't responded to any sort of stimulus since she was found. They're both in a local hospital. The doctor here suspects some sort of brain trauma. And... Sir Walker's Anti-Akuma weapon was badly damaged."

"We're sending backup. Stay with them until then," Reever ordered shortly, then hung up. He turned to stare at the empty office, drawing in a deep breath. He had a lot to do, and he was going to have to be the calm one because he knew it would be unfair to ask that of Komui.

On his way out, he stopped Tapp and told him to organize a medical team.

"Get Bookman if you can. I don't care who you have to call, sleep with, or blackmail. Find him. Okay? I have to go break the news to Komui."

Tapp gave him a look of bewilderment but nodded, promising he would do his best.

By then Reever was already gone.

He found Komui in the same place he'd left him earlier that day -- holed up in one of the labs humming to himself and filling all the blackboards that lined the walls with obscure equations, scattered notes in Chinese, and diagrammed sketches that looked like they were either very fat Exorcists, very fat Exorcist uniforms, or vaguely Exorcist-shaped robots. "Reever?" he inquired automatically as he heard the door opening, turning around brandishing a piece of chalk and wearing a quizzical expression; one look at Reever's face and his own closed off visibly, lips pressing together into a line as the Supervisor replaced the scientist.

"What's the news?" he asked quietly.

Reever's mouth opened as though to deliver said news but he hesitated and then closed it again, shaking his head. It would probably take Tapp a while to get a hold of Bookman, so Reever didn't feel the need to rush through this.

"Just... come here, will you, Komui?" he asked in a soft, tired sort of voice.

Komui's eyes narrowed slightly, and he pursed his lips and felt dread tease bile into his throat as a thousand horrific possibilities crowded into his mind all at once. Some perhaps more urgent than others.

He set down his chalk and wiped his hand on his white pants as he walked over toward Reever, almost hesitantly. A part of him really wished he didn't have to know.

"Reever... what's...?"

"Shh," Reever hushed, pressing his finger over Komui's lips, and then he replaced his hand with a kiss. He took Komui by the shoulders and backed him against the nearest wall. Komui's arms curled around him as he drew out the kiss, briefly broke it to start another, and another, and another. He ran one of his hands through Komui's hair, the other resting on his side. Because it felt like it was something he had to do. Right now, they were just overworked scientists, tired and stressed and doing their best to cope. Right now this was enough to get them through it. In a minute, all that was going to change. In a minute, Reever was going to have to tell Komui his sister was in a coma, that she had come face to face with a Noah and barely escaped with her life. That they had been standing here, possibly enjoying a quick lunch when this had happened. In a minute, this sort of thing wouldn't be able to offer Komui any measure of comfort. In a minute, Reever would be as helpless and useless to Komui as Komui was when it came to saving Linali. So right now, this was something that he had to do.

He continued the gentle, slightly scratchy kisses until he was flushed and breathless and ready to break down all on his own, until the minute had passed where he could do nothing and square it with himself. Then he gripped Komui's coat with both hands and pressed his forehead to the Supervisor's chest, trying to catch his breath.

"Tegan called," he whispered, closing his eyes. "The Innocence is fine. We have a new Exorcist on the way. Linali and Allen are alive and stable at the hospital, but..." He slowly let go of Komui and straightened, stepping back.

"Come on, Komui. Tapp's finding Bookman for us. I'm going to help you pack."

Reever rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He didn't want to be doing this. It was dangerous out there. It was dangerous and Exorcists attracted Akuma as much as raw Innocence did. It was dangerous out there and Linali couldn't help Komui in her state. People died every day, but Reever was a selfish man and he admitted it to himself. He'd offer up anyone else in the Order before Komui. But this time there was no one who could go in Komui's place.

"Everything's going to be okay," he murmured, as much to himself as to Komui.

"Reever."

Komui just stared at him, face expressionless, for a long moment, standing there with hands at his sides. His voice was quiet, equally blank.

"What happened to her?"

Reever pressed his hand against the side of his head at Komui's words, at the look he was being given. Being stupidly, hopelessly helpless was practically a job requirement for them, but that didn't make it any easier to bear. And the way Komui shut himself off, shut himself off and everyone else out, it was all just so...

"I don't know," Reever sighed. He wanted to look away because Komui's complete lack of reaction scared him more than any other kind of response could. The utter lack of a response -- what could anyone offer in the face of that? But he didn't, because that would make it all feel more grim. He never wanted to deliver news to Komui that was bad enough to render him unable to meet Komui's gaze.

"No one knows. She's--" he paused then, because he didn't quite know how to make the words come out right but then he realized there _was_ no way to make the words sound right. He sighed and thoughtlessly toyed with one of the bracelets he wore around his wrists.

"She's in a coma." The words came calmer now, not quite emotionless but far more softly and matter-of-fact. Really, Reever should have finished studying to become a doctor. Or a mortician. That would have been fun. "It's reported that she and Allen fought a human rather than an Akuma. She's been unresponsive since admitted to the local hospital, but she's in stable condition. Allen's Anti-Akuma weapon was badly damaged, but that's hardly news around here anymore. Bookman is being called. I'll be writing a dispatch notice to send a team of three out to Allen and Linali as medical backup."

Komui's gaze drifted down toward the floor, and he hugged his arms over his chest and took a very deep breath.

"...o-- okay. Coma. That's… fixable. We can deal with that," he murmured, pursing his lips again. When next he looked up at Reever, his gaze was shrewd.

"They're sure the opponent was a human...?"

"Yeah, a girl," Reever confirmed with a short nod. "Tegan wasn't very specific, but he probably didn't know much. Allen and Linali should be able to explain more when they're back on their feet." He glanced briefly at the door, sighing.

"We should pack any research materials that involve or mention the Noah family, as well as medical records, history books, your medical equipment... snacks for the trip. Rabi."

Komui nodded absently as he started toward the door, eyes on the ground and mind working fast. "Guess it's just as well we were going to see Bookman anyway," he murmured, tapping his chin. "Didn't Rabi leave with him last time? If he were still in the castle it would be a lot easier to get in touch..."

He sighed and reached out for the handle.

"Guess we'd better get a move on. I'll go grab some clothes and things, can you head to my office...?"

"Yeah. I'll give Jerry a heads up on the way."

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For the next few days Reever found himself with twice the workload as usual, three to four times the stress, and half of the sleep he usually operated on. He tried his best not to think about Komui too much or worry too much, but those things seemed to go hand in hand and every time he picked up some of Komui's work, he thought of Komui which cued the worry and... really, there was no avoiding any of it. If Reever hadn't apparently been lacking the testosterone to grow anything more than frizzy stubble, he probably would have had a beard long enough to stroke contemplatively by the time Komui actually came back.

And just when it seemed as though things couldn't _possibly_ get any worse, they did. Reever should have seen it coming. This was the Order, after all.

But truth was, no one saw it coming. Not even the Head Generals. Not even Hevlaska. Not any of the Exorcists. Least of all Reever.

General Yeager was dead. Driven to the point of insanity, actually. Then died of his injuries. All the while singing the same little tune, a song that was burned into Reever's mind and hummed itself to him whenever it got too quiet.

_The Millenium Earl is searching. For the precious Heart, he's searching. It was wrong to choose me… next who will it be?_

It was unsettling. It was more than unsettling. Generals didn't die. They were rare and powerful and had mathematically impossible synchronization rates with their Innocence. They just _didn't_ die.

But General Kevin Yeager was gone and they were down to four. General Froi Theodore. General Cloud Nine. General Winters Sokaro. General Cross Marian. The Head Generals wanted Exorcist teams pulled from all current missions and sent out to bring the Generals back. Reever found himself charged with making lists in Komui's absence, tracing who exactly had trained under who.

Apprentices of Froi Theodore were Deisha Barry, Noise Marie, and Yuu Kanda. The dispatch notice was written, dated, and sealed in an envelope. Reever didn't have the clearance to sign them; they would have to be mailed to Komui.

Apprentices of Cloud Nine were Gwen Frere, Sol Galen, and Tina Spark. Dispatch notice written, dated, sealed.

Apprentices of Winters Sokaro were Suman Dark, Chakar Rabon, and Kazana Reed. Written, dated, sealed.

Apprentices of Cross Marian--

There was only Allen.

Knowing Komui's slight (and rather strange and unexplained) obsession with that particular General, Reever figured he would let the Supervisor write up his own team for retrieving Cross. Sending Allen alone _really_ wouldn't do considering the trouble the boy tended to cause/get himself into/spawn, and if they were going to send people at random with him they might as well give Komui the peace of mind of hand-picking who else to send.

Once all that was done, all that was left to do was... call Komui. Funny. Reever had been keeping himself up at night agonizing over how the man was doing, skipping meals, implementing the Dewey Decimal System into their library to keep himself busy... and yet when faced with actually calling Komui to find out how everything was, he had a hard time even picking up the phone. Was he afraid of getting bad news?

Probably. Nine times out of ten, picking up the phone meant bad news. In fact, Reever had some bad news to give himself. Probability suggested that Komui most likely had bad news as well. And so Reever paced in front of the phone, pretended to have lost the number, found the paper he'd written it on--

It was only when Johnny offered to call the Supervisor himself that Reever brushed him aside and picked up the phone, dialing the number with a slightly unsteady hand. He leaned his head against the nearest bookshelf, humming nervously to himself as the phone rang.

_It was wrong to choose me…_

...he really wanted to hear Komui's voice.

Five or six rings later, there was finally a click on the other line and a familiar sleepy timbre met his ears. "Komui," the Supervisor identified himself with a yawn, sounding tired but not too much the worse for wear. "Who's this? What's up?"

"Komui," Reever repeated, sounding a little bit giddy with relief. "You sound... well, you sound awful. But that's good. You sound just as awful as ever. How has everything been? How's everyone?" He didn't quite want to get into the bad news just yet. It had been too long since the last time he'd gotten to talk to Komui. He wanted to have that for just a little longer.

"Reever?" Komui's grin was audible. "Gee, thanks... Uh, we're holding down the fort over here. Allen's out of it and Linali -- hasn't woken up yet, but they should both be fine. Bookman had a look at them." His air of cheerfulness as he said the words was either genuine or very well-faked. "And, y'know, working. I've got a few thoughts about what might be going on, but it looks like we'll be out of here sooner rather than later, so I think they can wait until I get back... How are you?" he asked after a moment's pause, another smile warming his voice as it crossed the distance to reach Reever.

All of which did nothing but to make Reever feel even more guilty for having to be the bearer of bad news. He stalled for a minute or so longer, telling Komui all about the injustice of Jerry not letting him have a whole cake to himself at dinner, about the other day when Johnny's glasses fell down a heating vent and they'd spent the day coming up with various technologically advanced methods of retrieving them before Jerry had come by and put a magnet at the end of a string and solved that problem for them, and then he began to explain his theory on how God had a personal grudge against his ever shaving again.

"So this morning I was about to go brush my hair and shave," he sighed, sitting down against the bookshelf to tell this particular tale, "when the phone rings. No one else was around, so I had to answer it. Komui..." His voice dropped and he shook his head, sighing once more into the receiver. Then he tilted his head back a little too hard and banged it against the bookshelf. He winced, but didn't really pay much attention. The song was back.

"It's bad, Komui. It's really, really bad. Morale's hit rock bottom. The only good news is it can't get any worse. But don't quote me on that because someone might feel the need to prove me wrong."

On the other end of the line, Komui paused.

"...Am I going to need to take notes?" he wondered with a quiet sigh. There came the sound of rustling paper from his end of the line.

"There's not a lot to write," Reever sighed. He recounted everything he knew about the circumstances of General Yeager's death, which, really, wasn't a great deal. It took him perhaps all of five minutes. At the end, because he had no choice and because it was stuck in his head, he repeated the little song to Komui, trying not to think about the mad delight that had filled the General's voice when the Finder with him had held up the phone close enough for Reever to hear. Over and over again, the same three verses.

"We don't really know what it all means over here, but we know enough to know it's bad. The sooner we could have you back the better we'd all feel. We're all beginning to realize it'll be a while before we see our beds again so we're all getting ready for the coming storm. Jerry's actually working on brewing a coffee that will have us doing our research from the ceiling."

Komui was silent for a very long time. The only noise from his end of the line was the sound of a pen scratching against paper.

"...searching for the precious heart, huh..." came the murmur, at long last. Komui sucked in another breath.

"Have the General's remains been taken care of?" he asked, every inch the Supervisor.

"Yes, sir," Reever sighed, massaging his temple with one hand before he dragged his hand over his face, feeling all at once very filthy and tired and scruffy and worn around the edges. "Cremated, ashes taken to the Vault. No one who knew him outside the Order has any idea of his passing. By the book, Supervisor."

"Good." Komui paused again. The pen-scratching sounds intensified.

"I think," he murmured again after a while, "with the signs of the Noahs clearly out there... if the Earl's upping the ante on us, we need to change our game plan a little. Do we have orders?" he asked with a sigh.

"The Head Generals want all the Generals rounded up and brought back to the Order for protection," Reever reported as he dragged the pile of related papers off the desk and into his hands with his foot. "Generals Cloud Nine and Winters Sokaro shouldn't be problematic. Sokaro's fallen out of contact a little bit, but generally they call back now and again. Generals Theodore and Marian... Theodore forgets to call in and I think General Marian makes a point not to. I've drawn up dispatch notices for everyone but General Marian's team. I filled in Allen's name but I figured you'd want to draw up the rest of the team yourself. I'll have them mailed out for your signature as soon as I'm off the phone."

"Don't bother, it'll take too long," Komui replied immediately. "You're sending the Generals' apprentices out after them?"

"Well, yeah, but they need your signature. I don't have the authority to--"

"Approved. I'll sign them when I get back," Komui cut him off, pen still scribbling, "just get those teams out there as soon as possible. As for General Cross..."

He paused again, thoughtfully.

"We'll send Linali and Rabi along. Maybe Bookman if he'll cooperate."

Reever would have argued sending Linali out again if he felt he had any right to, but if Komui of all people was behind it, Reever could get behind it too. Komui wouldn't even humor the thought unless he thought it best or at least didn't have any other choice.

"Alright, I'll pen them in and at least start calling the other Exorcists back from their posts." Reever paused to clear his throat, the next words coming out as a bit of a mumble.

"...I look forward to seeing you back, Komui."

For a brief moment, there was quiet on the line.

"I miss you too," came Komui's soft reply.

"...So. I'll tell Linali you said hi even though you didn't," he continued humorously, "and you tell everyone in the Science Department not to despair, for their illustrious leader will soon return for everyone to bask in his healing presence. And." His words turned soft again, sweet and quiet as though pitched for their ears alone. "Don't stay up _all_night, okay?" he requested, entirely hypocritically.

"Hey, I was getting to that," Reever frowned, half crossing his arm over his chest. "Just because the rest of us don't think of Linali first and foremost doesn't mean we don't think of her at all. And I'll pass your little message along, but I'm pretty sure we're all going to agree that we'll be honored to bask in your healing presence as long as it doesn't involve another giant robot hell-bent on making Linali a body builder.

"Besides," Reever smiled, his own voice dropping to a whisper, not quite soft and sweet but running more along the lines of slightly mischievous, "I can't promise you that. How am I supposed to spend all night thinking about you if I'm unconscious?"

"W-what kind of a question is that?" Komui was audibly flustered, and probably a little flushed as well. He gave an indignant sniff. "By -- dreaming about me, of course," he declared after a second, "yes. Feel free to dream about me all night. As long as there's sleeping involved. In a bed. My bed. If you want." His voice turned speculative. "I do have very comfy down pillows, as you might recall."

That--

That... actually sounded like a very good idea.

"All right, all right. You win," Reever laughed gently, closing his eyes to imagine the adorable little embarrassed expression he was sure was on Komui's face. The pout that would come with that indignant sniff. They really hadn't been an item all that long and yet... it was something Reever found himself falling into easily. As though things had been this way all along. That was just the nature of their relationship, he supposed.

"I'll try to get in at least six hours tonight, okay? And I'll try to spend at least four of those dreaming about various things involving you, clothing being completely optional. And I'll do this all on your very comfy down pillows and you'll have to excuse any drool that may or may not happen."

"Just remember, you'll be entirely responsible for washing my sheets if you get them dirty!" The reminder came in a singsong, and Komui laughed a little as he paused again. "So. I'll get back to Headquarters as soon as possible, I'll try to call ahead if I can and let you all know what's going on... See you soon."

"Take care of yourself," Reever answered as he toyed with the phone's cord a little, as apprehensive of hanging up as he had been to call to begin with. Funny how things worked like that.

"See you soon. I'll be waiting."

After the call ended, Reever had to force himself back onto his feet. There was more work to be done, more calls to be made, more lives to potentially end or ruin. All in a day's work.

He was really looking forward to curling up in Komui's bed.

-

- - -

-

In the end there was no second phone call, but true to his word, a couple days later, the Supervisor arrived back at Headquarters, lugging several wheeled trunks full of _way_too many papers and books behind him.

"Wateeeer..." he moaned as he collapsed inside the front doors, slumping against one of the hated cases. Heavy lifting was not his strong suit. "Coffeeeeee... Or actually, just somebody else to lug these damn things up the stairs would be great..."

The cameras had caught the Supervisor making his way to the front doors and so by the time he arrived, so had Reever.

"Was the elevator ride that strenuous?" Reever teased, coming over to offer Komui his special mug of coffee and a hand up. "And it's your lucky day. In exchange for some of Jerry's delectable cupcakes, Buzz here has agreed to take the books back to the library and your things back to your room."

"Oh Buzz, my hero!!" Komui somehow managed to do a 360-degree twirl without spilling a drop of his coffee, stopping to take a sip and beaming at the pair of men. "I'm so happy to be back home, where all my things never have to be packed and can stay on the floor where they belong," he declared dreamily.

"About that." Reever scratched the back of his neck. "While you were gone the library spawned the Dewey Decimal System. You're going to have to start shelving things like everyone else, Supervisor." Buzz gave them both a slightly skeptical but altogether fond look before he picked up Komui's things and excused himself from their presence, because Reever had asked him to. Perhaps under pain of death. Reever couldn't precisely recall, but he knew he wanted as much time to catch up with Komui as he could get, as soon as possible.

"What? But... I have my own Komui system. I like my system," the Supervisor pouted. "When did you all have time to do that anyway?"

Watching the Finder walk off with his trunks, he took another sip of coffee, and leaned over to press a quick kiss to the side of Reever's mouth. "You wouldn't make me mess up my system, would you? Throw off all my hard-earned organization?" he asked, further attempts at pouting not quite managing to hide the joyous upward twitch to his lips.

"Trouble is, Supervisor, the rest of us aren't quite up to your caliber of genius, so you'll just have to trouble yourself with coming down to our level and coping with our system," Reever sighed semi-theatrically. Whatever Komui had, it was catching. He smiled as well, glanced around, and pulled Komui into a seldom-used hall for more, not-quite-so-rushed kissing and general being-close-to-Komui-ness. Because there never really was enough of that, and Komui being away so long meant they were backlogged. And really, this was the only catching up that they needed to do right now. Komui was fighting a smile, which meant everyone was well and not in a coma and on their merry way to their next mission, so everything was as good as it could be in a world where the apocalypse was perpetually nigh.

Once they'd had their fill of each other at least for the moment, Komui sighed, sipping at the last of his coffee as he leaned on Reever, sprawled out against the wall of their obscure hallway, and supposed he ought to get back to business sometime soon.

"...So. Not that I'm terribly eager to ask this," he said with distaste. "How are things going back here? Any news I need to know? Word on the General search?"

"Nothing, really. Jerry keeps trying to plan our wedding. He actually started bawling his eyes out when he heard Linali was going on another mission and wouldn't be able to help him," Reever shrugged, smiling at the memory. Then his expression set back into something more somber, fiddling with his left bracelet.

"Last I heard, Kanda's getting closer to General Theodore. They heard he wanted to paint a beautiful city and they're on their way to the aforementioned city. Both Tina and Suman have no clue where their Generals are. Which is funny, because I thought we'd have the exact opposite problem as far as locating Generals go. Suman's somewhere in India, as far as I can tell." Reever paused to shake his head. He always saved the best (or worst, depending on who you asked) news for last.

"We got a call from Allen earlier. He has a hot tip that General Marian is holed up in a brothel he used to frequent in China. They're on their way there now."

"Oh?" A raised eyebrow from Komui, followed by a dark scowl. "Good. Maybe they'll be first back. Then I'll have plenty of time to give General Cross a proper talking-to about keeping in touch," the Supervisor muttered, grip tightening around his coffee mug.

After a second, he sighed again.

"Well, I guess it's going about as quickly as we could have expected. The Generals are all such independent types, no surprise it's like herding cats, I suppose..."

For not the first time, or second time, or third time, or even the fourth or fifth time, Reever found himself wondering what sort of history Komui had with Cross. The Supervisor seemed to have such a grudge against him, and Reever found that strange because it wasn't as though Cross was any harder to get ahold of than General Theodore. The two generals were flighty in their own ways, but the fact remained the same. Something had to have happened between Cross and Komui, but Reever couldn't begin to guess what.

"It's true," he agreed in lieu of actually mentioning anything that was going through his head, because if it had been hard to ask Komui things about his past at random before they started having their... thing, it was definitely worlds harder now. Probably because he was expected to, and did, care. A great deal. It was almost as though he didn't want to know.

"There's really nothing to be done but sit around and wait for them to come back," Reever sighed, slipping his hand into Komui's. "Whatever will we do with all this new found spare time?"

"Worry, probably." Komui sighed. And then pouted a little. "Also paperwork. I'm sure I'm going to have a very horrible awful terribly tragic week of catching up, which you, being an upstanding human being and my significant other, will be obliged to heroically comfort me from, won't you?" he declared dramatically, setting his mug down before swooning over into Reever's lap with the back of his arm pressed against his forehead.

"What's there to worry about? We have teams of our best Exorcists traveling together in groups, looking for their extremely powerful mentors. Two of them are practically on their way back and the other two are known to call from time to time. Everything's going to be just fine," Reever reassured, reaching down to pet Komui's hair. He smiled a fond, content little smile. "And fret not, as long as you do your duties as Supervisor, I'll do my duties as your boyfriend and bring you flowers and candy, mostly candy, and occasionally distract you from the work I usually force you to do for cuddling. And candy."

Komui, looking up at the gentle smile on Reever's face and feeling that comforting hand move softly through his hair, decided now wasn't the time for confiding that message left by the Akuma that almost killed him. Now wasn't the time for sharing his private suspicions about how everything was definitely very shortly going to go to shit.

No, right now, he decided, he was just going to take a break. While he still could.

"Forget the flowers, just bring me _twice_the candy," he requested with a smirk, sitting up again to twine his arms around Reever's slim body, resting his face contentedly against one scruffy cheek. It really was good to be home.

-

- - -

-

Calls continued to stream in steadily from China as the week passed. They arrived in China. They found the brothel the General used to frequent. They found the General. They had convinced him to come back surprisingly easily. They had found a ship that would get them back. They were leaving the day after tomorrow. Every call brought what should have been entirely good news. Reever had mixed feelings about it all. The closer General Cross Marian came to returning home, the stranger Komui began to act and the more Reever worried and wondered and agonized over exactly what it was that Cross had over Komui. It was all suspicious, actually. If he remembered correctly, it was a letter of recommendation from Cross that had allowed Komui to transfer from the East Asia branch here to Order Headquarters to begin with. So they had to have gotten along then, right? What happened?

For the better part of a week, it was all Reever could think about. He mulled it over at breakfast and during work and after work and when with Komui and when not with Komui and right when he was falling asleep and right when he woke up. He wondered about it almost all the time. Something about it just_bothered_ him, something he couldn't explain. Every day he wanted the thoughts to just leave him alone. They weren't important at all, after all. He didn't know why he couldn't just let it go. Every day he wished for the thoughts to leave him.

And then one day they did and Reever found that all he wanted anymore was to have those delightfully carefree thoughts back.

It was the day he woke up, walked into Komui's office, and found the desk covered in pale gray papers and manila folders.

Death notices, along with the corresponding agent's file.

There were more than Reever could count just by looking, more than he normally saw in_months_.

Swallowing with great difficulty, he managed to make it to the phone, managed to dial Komui's number.

"Supervisor," he whispered into the phone, voice trembling so much it was almost hard to understand him. "You should... come in now. To your office. Now. Please."

"Reever? What's going on? I--" Responding to the other man's tone, there was the faintest note of panic in Komui's voice, but he clamped down on it quickly. "...I'll be right there."

And then he stepped into the room a few minutes later and simply... stood in the doorway, and stared.

"...What is going on here...?" he mumbled, reaching for the wood of the doorframe to steady himself for a moment. He took a very deep breath and then all at once rushed over to start pawing through the newly-made pile on his desk, shoving files aside left and right, glancing over the causes of death, looking for some report or summary that would make sense of this -- this _slaughter._

"It's..." He tried to make sure to keep breathing, fingers clutching too tightly against a random file folder. Whose was...?

_Tina Spark._

An Exorcist. Exorcists. Finders. _His_Finders,_his people _and they were _gone, oh, fuck everything, I was too fucking slow._

"It's started."

_The thousand-year prologue is over. Time for the show to begin._

"...I should go talk to Mission Ops and try to figure out what the hell is happening out there," he said, staring down at the death notices and keeping his voice tightly under control. "Have... have somebody catalog these, please."

"I'll do it," Reever volunteered himself with a heavy, shaky sigh as he sank down in Komui's chair and tried to make some sort of sense of it all. Some sort of order. But there _was_ none. None of anything. There was no explaining how... how could so many of their ranks have died seemingly overnight? It didn't make_sense_, it--

_Peter Sutton._

Reever closed his eyes and found a notepad and pen in the drawer. He set those to one side and began to gather up all the death notices to... alphabetize them. He almost wanted to laugh. Every single slate-gray paper he handled was someone's life, was someone's death. He had at least a hundred of them, over a hundred of them, and the first thing he could think to do was sort them in alphabetical order. It was bureaucracy at its finest, and it was so funny that Reever wanted to laugh until he cried.

_Olivia Abbott._ That would be somewhere in the beginning. It was a start, some sort of start.

_Charles Alexander. Jack Andrews. _Those names would be near the top as well. He kept going, kept leafing through until he found more names that began with 'A' or 'B'.

_Deisha Barry--_

Reever's eyes widened. An Exorcist. He shouldn't have been so surprised, with a pile this large there was bound to be some amount of casualties in the Exorcist department as well, but... Deisha was, or had been such a strong Exorcist. Killing Level Two Akuma had been child's play to him, and yet-- Reever's hands stopped a few more pages past Deisha's.

_Chakar Rabon_.

Another one. Another one he'd sent out to find a General. Reever's gaze snapped up to find Komui, looking both stricken and horrified.

"Komui. Two Exorcists. I've found two Exorcists already. Go. Right now. Ask Mission Ops what the fuck is going on. I have to... have to find their files. Read them. I can't sort through this mess until I know what happened and... fuck, I have to make some calls, ask when the bodies are being shipped in and who the hell is going to organize this funeral."

Komui swallowed.

"Right. I'll... I'm heading down. Get someone to help sort through those," he murmured in passing, walking past Reever and out of the room. Somebody had some explaining to do.

By the time Reever finished, by himself as he simply didn't have the _time_ to pull himself away long enough to get help, he had a towering stack of dead Finders and a neat little pile of dead Exorcists. Six in all. Oh, and one MIA notice, but that didn't seem too important in the face of everything else.

Once he was done, Reever buried his face in his hands and wondered to God why he wasn't crying. All of General Cloud Nine's beloved students were dead. All but one of General Winter Sokaro's apprentices were dead and the one that wasn't accounted for, Suman Dark, was missing. Deisha Barry of General Froi Theodore's team wouldn't be coming back again. Reever had sent out every one of them, and he was beginning to understand how hard it was to be Komui. He was beginning to understand the desire to run from these four walls and never stop.

Not to mention the Finders. A hundred and forty-two of them. He didn't know if he had any friends in the Order outside Komui anymore, he'd counted so many names he knew. The figures just... didn't make any sense. The sheer magnitude of the slaughter. The horrifying ways in which some of the bodies were found.

Like Deisha. Crucified upside-down to a lamppost, somehow missing an internal organ. There was even a _picture_ in his file now. The Charity Bell had been destroyed. Three of the other Exorcists shared a similar fate, all the deaths reminiscent of General Yeager's.

For once, Reever honestly didn't know what to do. He'd done everything he could. All the right phone calls had been made, all the right paperwork had been compiled and sent. There was nothing left that he could do, and nothing he had done felt like it mattered a goddamned bit.

It was exhausting.

All that he could really do was hold his list of a hundred and forty-eight names to his chest and wait for Komui to come back. Wait for Komui to come back and hope to God that Peter's seven year old would be okay somehow without him. Wait for Komui to come back and try to pretend that Peter was somehow the only name on the entire list who had left someone all alone in the world while at the same time being fully aware that it simply wasn't true.

What felt like an eternity later, the office door slammed open, and slammed shut, and locked. Komui's weight thumped against it as he sank down onto the floor right where he stood.

"Mission Ops has no fucking clue," he announced without preamble.

Taking off his jacket, he flung it to one side and shortly sent his beret to join it, running a faintly trembling hand through his hair.

"Half our people seem to have just been... ambushed. No warning at all. It's a miracle we were even able to get notices for most of these," he muttered, staring at some stray papers littering his floor.

"We'll be waiting a few more days, too," Reever mumbled into his arms, not quite ready to lift his head to look at Komui. "For all the MIA Finders to fail to report back long enough to declare them dead. Because sometimes... sometimes the Akuma don't leave enough for us to know." He curled his arms tighter around his now extremely crumpled paper, sniffing slightly.

"Cloud's going to be crushed. All of her students died looking for her."

"They--"

Komui's head shot up and he stared at Reever for a second, expression slowly fading from wide-eyed shock back into the same utter exhaustion he'd sported walking through the door.

Still staring straight downward, he clambered to his feet again, slipped off his shoes, and walked over his collection of papers to plop back down on the tile floor next to Reever's chair. He leaned against the side of one chair leg, took a very deep breath, and sighed.

Reever looked down a second at Komui before he slowly released his vice grip on his list and let it go, then joined Komui on the floor. He put his back against the side of the desk and then pulled Komui into his arms, taking a moment to count his blessings and be glad that he even had someone to hold.

"I, um..." he began, quietly, expression still somewhat stricken but less distraught than before. "I... spent a lot of the last couple weeks thinking. This probably isn't the place, and... well, this is also probably the worst time, but, ah... I really missed you while you were gone." He gave Komui a little squeeze. His last words came out a very quiet murmur, sounding guilty to be uttering them. In fact, he looked as though he felt guilty for even thinking the thought right then, but... The only thing left holding him together was the fact that he had Komui to carry through this. He leaned his cheek against the top of Komui's head.

"...I think I might've fallen for you while you were away."

Komui didn't even have the energy to feel embarrassed right now. Just... quiet and sad and tired and confused, and a little lonely, but a hell of a lot less lonely than he could have been, and... unbelievably grateful that a person like Reever Wenham found him someone worth caring about.

"They do have some saying about distance and fondness and stuff, which I will totally think of what it is later," he mumbled, burying his face against the other man's shirt and pulling his arms around Reever's waist, clinging tight. Because...

Because there was fuck all else that they could do. Right now he just wanted to leave the door locked and... pretend the rest of the world didn't exist for a little while.

"I thought about you every day," he mumbled. Whispered.

"Just the kids and us, in that teeny little hospital waiting around... It was too quiet."

"Here too," Reever whispered back, finding himself once again running his fingers through Komui's soft hair. "I've decided that I like your bed best with you in it, provided I'm in it too." He pressed a little kiss against Komui's hair and then closed his eyes, taking a moment to just _feel_. To feel the way Komui's hair slipped through his fingers, to feel Komui's hot breath against his shirt, to feel Komui's arms around him and Komui's heartbeat against his and just... _everything_. And then abruptly it was as though Reever had been sitting in a dark room and someone suddenly switched on the lights.

He was glad. Not _happy_, no. He was definitely miserable. But he was glad. Even after all that had happened, he was glad to be alive. Even with all of the suffering and death and all the hopelessness and ugliness and horror in the world outside and all around them, even after spending the last few hours finding out how many of his friends were dead, even after realizing that their enemy was upping their game when it had taken everything the Order had to keep up with them to begin with... he was glad. Because he could still sit here and enjoy the feeling of Komui lying against him and because they could be apart and have someone to miss and because they had only begun to know each other and had so much more to discover. Komui was what made his life worth living, and it had taken a death toll of a hundred and forty-eight to make him realize it.

"Don't look up right now, okay?" he quietly requested, a little bit of a laugh in his voice. Then he blinked and reached up to wipe away his tears with the back of his sleeve.

"Just give me a minute and don't look up, Komui."

Komui gave a little sniff.

"That just makes me _want_to look, you know," he murmured, sliding upward and throwing an arm over the top of Reever's shoulder. But when his face turned upward, his eyes were closed. He found Reever's lips by touch, long fingers ghosting across his face and the side of his stubbled jaw, followed by Komui's own lips pressed against the other man's; his kiss gentle but firm, slow, offering as much comfort as he could find it in him to give. A thousand thoughts were crowding through his mind right now but he didn't want to listen to a single one -- he only wanted to hear Reever. His breath. His voice. Sighs. Laughter.

It would be better if they could drown out everything.

And they could.

Not indefinitely. Not even for very long. But, for right now, there was nothing they could do but hold each other. Hold each other, and make believe that there was nothing, nothing but the four walls around them. That everything was safely confined to this room. There was no past to regret, no future to fear for. Reever hooked his thumb against each of his bracelets and pulled them off, a silent prayer passing across his lips as he slipped both colored bands into his lab coat's pocket. He didn't want to see them right now.

Then he touched the side of Komui's face and returned the kiss with something deeper, more passionate and with just a hint of desperation. He pressed his opposite hand against the small of Komui's back as he shifted, climbing atop the other. He shrugged his lab coat off his shoulders as he trailed his kisses to the corner of Komui's mouth, then to his jaw, then down his neck. He found the front of Komui's coat with his hands and began to slip it off.

"Let me take you far away from here," he whispered breathlessly into Komui's ear.

The words wrested a strangled, needy little noise from Komui's throat, and he reached up blindly to slip his hand under Reever's shirt, cool fingertips making feather-trails along the warm skin underneath. He stayed there for just a moment longer, concentrating on nothing but Reever's touch, Reever's kisses. Then at last he opened his eyes again.

Looking up at Reever for a moment with a half-lidded gaze, he took off his glasses to toss them onto one of the nearby piles of paper. He pulled on the other man's body a little to steady himself as he sat up and leaned forward, reaching out with his tongue to erase the last few stubborn tears from Reever's cheeks and kiss him again, hard, dragging the other man down with him by the tie to sprawl back against the floor once more.

For a while after that, there was no more talking. Only breathless sighs; little gasps; quiet moans of pleasure. The sounds of two human bodies working in complete and utter unison. The whole of the world was narrowed into this and only this: a soft smile, skin on skin. Komui's hair falling into his face. Reever's disheveled tie. For the moment, they left everything else behind.

"Ah---"

Johnny blinked for a moment as he passed by in the hallway outside, and paused, and decided that he had best not open the door.

After it was all over, once both men (who were at that moment not scientists or in mourning or, really, anything but each other's) were sated and exhausted in all the right ways and completely at peace with the four walls around them, they curled up in each other's arms and made the world wait a little longer for them. They slept better than they had in weeks, on the floor of Komui's office with Reever's lab coat for a pillow and Komui's jacket draped over them. They dreamed the same dream, of nothing at all. Of blissful monotony uninterrupted by tragedy. And when Reever awoke he untangled himself from Komui wordlessly, saying nothing as he stood and dusted himself off. He lingered a moment, then another, simply watching the content, innocent expression on Komui's face that was never present in the Supervisor's waking hours. It had to be a sin to be responsible for taking that away from him.

And so Reever left, still not saying a word, leaving his lab coat where it was. He had funeral arrangements to help with.

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End file.
